Hunting The Dark
by MrQuinlansBloodDoll
Summary: Catori joins a group of survivors and starts to get close to Daryl. OcxDaryl Don't like, don't read. UPDATE: Reunited!
1. Introductions

The morning sun rose in the sky and, thankfully, there were no walkers around.

Catori had grown tired of dealing with them. She sat up from the tree she had been leaning against, sleeping, and rumbled through her backpack. It took a minute or so before Catori pulled out a small hair brush and ran it through her long brown hair. The woman re-braided the big strands of green dyed hair and brushed half of her long brown hair up in a messy bun, leaving most of it streaming down her back, reaching her lower thighs.

After 'freshening' up a bit, a small packet of beef jerky was pulled out and opened. Catori thought about things in life, wondering where she was. Once the walkers had taken over, killing her father and her pet dog, she had left. Her father had taught her everything she needed to know about living in the wild, hunting and pretty much taking care of herself. She'd survive here in the middle of nowhere as long as a walker didn't get a hold of her.

No.

She refused to let that happen.

'There has to be other survivors somewhere.' She thought, after taking out a piece of beef jerky then closing the bag, putting it back in her backpack. Sighing, the young woman stood up and was off. She had been traveling for about four days, on foot. Stopping when finding abandoned cars and stores for supplies and such. The weather was hot and dry so she didn't wear her baggy black coat much. Her white Capri-pants were surprisingly stainless. The shirt she wore was styled much like a corset, tight brown material around her torso with loose white material around the breast area. The brown boots were her signature shoes she always wore. Around her neck was a white pearl rosary and a separate necklace of a crescent moon. The rosary had belonged to her mother and her father had given her the other. She still wondered what type of person her mother was, the woman had died shortly after Catori was born.

Movement caught Catori's attention and she reached for her gun but relaxed when she saw a squirrel had been the source of the noise. Her 12 GA. shotgun with a silencer had belonged to her father but she figured he didn't mind her taking it with her now that he was gone and she was forced to leave. Her 9mm had a silencer as well. Catori's father was real big into camping and hunting. He wasn't the gentlest of people; he was a rough guy that always had an ill tone in his voice. The man had forced her to learn hunting skills and survival skills after his paranoia of her getting lost in the woods or in case of a situation like this.

"Where am I?" She whispered, looking up. "There aren't any others left alive, is there?" After another two hours, she sat down against a tree. Deep in thought, she closed her eyes… …But snapped them back open when she heard voices. Catori jumped up, closed her eyes and listened. 'That way!' Almost running in the direction of the voices, she heard them get louder. 'The walkers don't talk! So it must be others that are alive!' She jumped out of the wooded area and saw a dirt road and followed it, coming up on a woman with dark hair and a child. The child was the first to see her, "Mom!" The woman looked up and stopped gathering bits of wood. Catori wasn't sure what to do or say. "Um… Hey, I didn't think there were any more people left… You're…sane, right?" The other woman nodded with a small smile, "Are you wounded or have you been bitten?"

"No, ma'am."

"Can I ask you your name?"

"It's Catori."

She seemed to hesitate when she spoke, "I'm Lori and this is Carl, my son. Come, we'll get you an area here."

Lori showed Catori around the camp, introduced her to everyone except for one who was nowhere to be seen. Catori explained to Lori and Dayle that she could hunt and help out with catching food for everyone.

"Well, Daryl tends to hunt. I don't think he'll take kindly to someone doing the same thing he does." The older man said, "Then again maybe you two would get along."

Right about that time, a guy in his late 20s/early 30s pushed past the group, no 'excuse me' or anything.

"Who was that?"

"That was Daryl."

"Ah." Yep, he was a jerk. His glaring eyes looked up at Catori, "Got a problem?" She shook her head in response then shifted her backpack on her shoulder before returning his glare and walking off.

After a few days passed, Catori (or Cat as everyone had started calling her) became a little bit more talkative with everyone but she still kept to herself, mostly. Everyone was nice to her, except that Ed guy but she had already started plotting a plan to kick his ass when the time came. One afternoon, she saw Daryl away from everyone skinning a deer so decided to approach him in the only way she knew how, "Need any help?"

He stopped and looked at her, "What?"

"Need any help?"

"What would you be able to do? Sit here and gag?"

"No. I hunt and gut things, as well. Just thought I'd ask if you needed help."

Daryl looked a bit shocked, "You?"

She nodded.

"Ok then," He threw the stuff at her and moved to watch, a sarcastic stare graced his face. "Go for it."

He was surprised when she done everything almost too perfectly. Once she was done, she stood up and left.

"Bitch." Daryl was pissed because she was as good as he was but he had to admit, he'd never seen a girl do what she had just done. Well, not without puking all over the place and whining about getting shit on their clothes. The hunter still didn't know if he should be pissed or happy that someone of the opposite gender had the same skills he did. He was still unsure if they would get along or not but he had to admit, "She is kind of pretty, I guess."

"Daryl, you got the hots for our new girl?"

"Damnit, Shane! Mind your own damn business, would ya?"

"Cat, you managed to talk to Daryl without getting snapped at?" Lori had asked, placing a hand on Catori's shoulder.

She nodded, "No big deal. He reminds me of my father and his friends I grew up around. Same attitude, same hunting style with a crossbow."

Lori nodded and watched as she turned to walk back to her area, "Hey, would you like to eat with us tonight? Join our group? You always retreat to your tent and stay by yourself."

"I might." She wasn't there when Rick and his group from Atlanta arrived but she didn't regret not being there once she heard all the mushy affection going on. It was a few hours later when she was walking out to the lake once she saw Ed hit his wife across the face.

'Finally, an excuse to fuck him over!' She thought. 'I need to vent, anyway.'

Catori walked over and punched the man in the face, knocking him into Shane, who gladly picked him up and slung him onto the ground. Catori watched as the cop straddled the man and proceeded to punch him in the face repeatedly. Once he whispered his threats and stood up, Catori made her way to the fallen man and gave a smile before kicking him in the face several good times. She heard his wife yelling for her to stop but she ignored her. Once Ed had begun to cough up blood, she stopped, "You're next, bitch." She stood up, "The walkers are going to get you. You're just too much of a moron to survive a world full of nothing but the walking dead." A hard kick was delivered to the man's crotch, "I can't wait 'till that happens. Women represent life. Our very blood gives life. Therefor you will show respect to every female in this camp. If I knew your wife wouldn't try to stop me I would put a bullet in your head right here and now." As she spoke she held her gun up to his head and tilted her head to the side, "There are no laws or rules to obey, anymore. Learn some respect or I will make sure you suffer. Understand?" Catori stood up then walked away, feeling a bit more stress-free now that she had taken her anger out on something. The plan for the day was to go out to the small body of water and possibly fish or just relax and enjoy the scenery but the fat bastard had ruined that.

Propping her shotgun over her shoulder, the woman made her way back to the camp. What she wasn't expecting was Daryl to step in front of her, "Girl. You alright." He gave a mischievous smile and nodded back towards Ed, "That asshole deserved getting his ass kicked by a girl."

Her gold eyes stared at him for a while but she finally spoke, "Thanks, I suppose. Um… I'm not good with other people so I'm sorry if I offend you."

"Offend?"

"Yeah, my people skills suck."

"You're people skills are just fine." He nodded to her then walked past her to go laugh in Ed's face.

Inside her tent, Catori was lying on her back and staring blankly at the ceiling of the tent. Time seemed to go by very slowly and laying down doing nothing was making it much slower. She sighed and crawled out of her tent and began walking, a destination not in mind. Eventually, she found herself next to Daryl who was skinning squirrels. He looked up when she approached, "Need something?"

"Just bored. Need help?" Like last time, he threw a few squirrels to her and watched. They made small talk, him talking about his brother, her talking about her father. After a while Daryl realized he was beginning to like her company. Footsteps sounded behind them and, without even turning around, Catori spoke, "Hey, Amy."

"How'd you-?"

"Your footsteps, breathing, length between one step to the other." She hadn't even looked up at the girl behind her yet. "You have a certain pattern when you walk."

"Well, would you and Daryl like to eat with us? We have some things cooking over a fire." A second passed then Cat looked up and nodded, "Yeah, ok."

Amy walked away and Daryl looked at Catori, "Damn. Your dad did teach you well."

"Yeah, well… I was forced to learn. He wanted to make sure I'd survive anything and everything. The only thing he didn't teach me was how to talk with other human beings. Never really had a friend growing up."

"What about boyfriends?"

"Didn't have any of those, either." She handed him the last squirrel and looked up at him, "I was to different and quiet for everyone's taste. I Guess I scared them away. Heh, their loss."

He watched as she stood and threw a small bag at him, "What's this?"

"Deer jerky. It lasts a good long while. I got plenty in my goody bag and I don't just share with anybody." She turned and walked to the others, silently accepting their invitation. 'Damn… She ain't too bad, at all.'

The 'dinner' wasn't bad, no one really said anything much. They asked her a few questions about her encounters with Daryl and were somewhat shocked when she admitted that she had a bit of a crush on him. Shane smiled, laughing quietly, "Well, he said you was pretty the other day."

"Me?"

"Aww!" Jacque turned and looked at her, "Maybe he likes you, too. You can help him change his act up, stop being so ill and mean all the damn time."

Cat said nothing but a blush touched her pale cheeks. Everyone noticed but said nothing. Carl spoke next, "I saw Ed after you and Shane kicked his butt today!"

"Carl!" Lori whispered in a harsh tone, attempting to hush him up.

But Shane just laughed, "Well, most of the damage was caused by her. And that speech you gave? I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't come out of his hidey hole for a while."

So she managed to get her point across to everyone, good.

That next day, Catori woke up to hear a commotion. When she arrived to the area, she saw Daryl in a fight with some people that had recently arrived with a man named Rick. Once Daryl walked away from the others, Catori approached him, "What's wrong?" She touched his shoulder to stop him. When he jerked away from her was when she spoke, "Daryl?"

"Mind your own fuckin' business!"

"Geeze… Just trying to help."

"Don't bother." He snapped.

"Fine." Cat huffed then turned and walked away. But she did see him off when he left with the group to go get his brother. "Please. Be careful." But Daryl just rolled his eyes and left. "I saw that."

Cat turned around to see Jacque, "What?"

"He is such a jerk but I know he likes you. Give him time."

If he liked her then he had a very unique and confusing way of showing it. Catori walked off to be alone. She needed to think, which sometimes took forever to the point of where she wouldn't be seen for days. Emotions were complicated and sometimes they needed to be sorted out when things seemed crazy. Even when the world around them had already gone insane.

Why did she fall for Daryl? She had a habit of crushing on guys that were complete jerks, but then again… She couldn't blame him for being mad. If she had a brother someone left handcuffed on a roof during a zombie attack, she'd be pretty pissed, too. Her father had taught her how to survive any and every situation except for one like this, dealing with those of the opposite gender.

Back in her tent, thoughts about Daryl were racing through her head. She couldn't believe she was thinking about him again. The others said he had a thing for her but she wasn't sure if they were right or not.

Nighttime fell; she walked out of the tent and was making her way to the others in time to hear Amy scream. When she reached for her gun, she saw the walkers invading the area. 'Shit!' Guns were shot and blunt objects were slung for what seemed like forever until she heard a familiar voice, screaming something she couldn't understand. 'That was Rick! They must be back!' The woman ran towards the shouts, bashing a walker in the face with her gun, and saw Daryl, "Daryl-!" But she was interrupted by a walker grabbing her from behind.

"Cat!" Daryl screamed and ran towards her, aiming at the walker with his signature crossbow.

"Let me go!" She head butted the walker and it threw her to the side, down a hill. Her head cracking against a rock made her black out for a few seconds, maybe it was a minute. Her eyes were opened, that she knew, but she couldn't see anything. Moving shot pain through her head and down her back and she opened her mouth in a silent scream of agony. "You're ok, don't talk or move."

"W-wha-?"

"Damnit, I said not to talk!" Catori would've smiled if she were in so much pain. It was wonderful to hear his voice again, even if he was yelling at her to shut the hell up.

It was dawn when her gold eyes opened and saw a blurred figure beside her. Catori was afraid to move after remembering last night. When she moved, it was so very painful.

"How ya feeling?" Daryl's voice was soft, which was weird since he never really spoke in such a manner around her before. Feeling a bit brave, she turned her head to look at him. Her neck was sore but no random shots of pain attacked her. "Damnit…"

"What's wrong?"

"My head..." Her fingers reached up and felt bandages around her head, "Ow… If my father were here, he'd lecture me about getting distracted. He'd probably fwap me over the head as well."

"You should rest; I need to go destroy the bodies. Don't need any more dead bitches runnin' around."

"What?"

"Some of us didn't make it."

"Oh no..."

Cat jumped up, ignoring the pain in her head and climbed out of the tent and viewed her surroundings. Amy was the first one she saw with Andrea kneeling over her. Andrea seemed more than broken over the loss of her sister. She felt like she had to say something. "Andrea?"

The blonde moved a bit to confirm that she had her attention.

"I'm sorry this happened."

"I just... I can't..."

"I know." Cat's fingers moved over the mermaid necklace Andrea had shown everyone the night before, "She loves it, I know she does. She loves you."

"And I love her more than life itself."

"And she knows that."

Catori stood up and made her way to the area where the walker's bodies were being burned. Hopefully the group would have some good news of sorts soon...


	2. CDC: Lust & Safety

**Zirconia**: I don't own the Walking Dead or any of the characters. I only own my oc who is Catori. Thank you to **AkiraDawn** for helping me with the sexy scenes cause I suck at them lol No flames, please. While trying to edit, I probably screwed up and copy and pasted more than one of the same sentence so bear with me.

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><p><em>"Damnit! Can't this person take the hint?" Virgil stomped across the living room to the door, his graying beard falling over the top of his overalls. Catori just sat in the sofa, reading her fantasy book. "Dad, who is it?"<em>  
><em>"Some drunk idiot stumbling' around on our porch!" He opened the door, "Am I gonna have to kick your ass and make you leave in an ambulance?"<em>  
><em>The man stumbling on the porch looked up at Virgil and growled. Cat saw his eyes from across the room, "Dad! Something's wrong with him!"<em>  
><em>"Yeah, he's a drunken piece of shit!"<em>  
><em>"No! Daddy! Get away from him! Close the door-!"<em>  
><em>Before she could help her dad, the 'drunk' grabbed him and bit into his arm, a fountain of crimson making it's way to the floor.<em>  
><em>"Daddy!"<em>  
><em>"Cat! Run!" His scream echoed through the house and Cat ran to the gun cabinet. She heard barks but when she turned around, saw that their two Siberian huskies had been victims of the insane man when they tried to protect their master.<em>  
><em>"Maska! Meeko!" She aimed and pulled the trigger, hitting the walker in the head. "Daddy!" Cat kneeled next to him and held his hand. Virgil was shaking and going unconscious. "Cat-!"<em>  
><em>"I love you, Daddy."<em>  
><em>"-Love you too, baby."<em>  
><em>His eyes rolled up in the back of his head and she cried, standing up and going to get some treasured things. She couldn't stay here. In the giant backpack, she packed a small photo album, plenty of ammo, meds, first aid supplies, a book she wrote in and her stuffed dragon she had had ever since she was a baby. More items were packed and she went to the gun cabinet, grabbing some hand guns and a shotgun equipped with silencers.<em>  
><em>Once ready, she turned and saw her father standing up, "Daddy! You're ok!" She ran to him but stopped when she saw his eyes, "Daddy?"<em>  
><em>He showed his teeth and jumped at her with a loud screaming growl-<em>

A gunshot awakened her and she jumped up. Looking out the tent, she saw Andrea holding Amy and pretty much assumed what had happened.  
>Catori looked to the ground before she slide back into the tent. One thing she knew she didn't need to do was get attached to people in a time like this. Losing someone else she cared about was not something she wanted to deal with after she had just got over her father.<p>

'I have to leave.' She thought, shaking her head. 'Can't get close to anyone else..."  
>Getting attached to feel more pain was NOT an option! The others were planning on leaving soon, this she knew. 'I'll go my own way when they go theirs.'<p>

Once that time came, she was attacked with the expected questions, "Why?" and, "Where will you go?"  
>'That's a good question.' She thought, but said, "I'll make my own path."<p>

Before she could walk away Daryl pulled up in her path. "You ridin' with me, girl."  
>"I can't."<br>"Don't give me that shit. Get in."  
>The woman sighed and threw her book bag off of her back and held it on her lap after getting in the pickup truck. She looked at him in the driver seat then leaned back in her seat. She rolled the window down and sat with the wind blowing through her hair, her elbow on the door panel while she chewed a bit nervously on her thumbnail.<br>It was awkwardly silent; both of them thought of ways to start a conversation but failed until Daryl began thinking out loud. The tone in his voice was soft but Cat heard his words clearly, "Damnit, Merle… You better be alive…"  
>Cat turned to his and looked at him, her eyes trailing down to his hand on the steering wheel then the radio leading to the dashboard. "He will survive."<br>He looked at her, "Heh, you sound so sure of yourself."  
>"From his description, he's a determined bad ass. And you, you're his brother… I'm assuming he was the one that taught you how to survive."<br>"Our dad was never home and when he was, he wasn't the nicest of people. He got drunk a lot, always screwin' random women and shit like that. Merle was in jail, a lot but he was the one that took care of me for the most part."  
>Catori nodded.<br>"So… Your name isn't very common. Catori… It's pretty. It Latin?"  
>"Native American." She said. After that, neither really had anything else to say. Daryl kept glancing at her when she looked out the window but stopped when she looked back. He then just focused on the road.<p>

Once they stopped for a bit, the other man, the one that had been bit, announced he was staying behind. Cat hadn't really talked to him before but said her goodbyes after everyone else did. "Maybe I should go my own way, now…"

Catori had only taken a few steps before Daryl pulled in front of her on his brother's motorcycle. He looked at her with a bit of a smirk, "If you're worried about being a bother, you're not." He handed her a motorcycle helmet, "And you better not even think about using the excuse where you claim you can't get close to anyone. That shit don't fly with me."

Her eyes looked into his and she was caught, unable to look away. Why did she feel as if she couldn't walk away from him?  
>He was gorgeous sitting there on the motorcycle, with his bad ass self.<br>Next, her eyes looked at the helmet. She had never been on a motorcycle before. A four wheeler? Yes. But not a motorcycle...especially with a guy.  
>Looking back up at him, a trembling hand reached out.<br>What would her father say about her riding on such a thing? With a guy?  
>If he were here, she'd get pulled away and lectured. But he wasn't here. He was dead. Nothing was going to bring him back.<br>Daryl smiled when she took the helmet from him and placed it on her head. So many thoughts were running through her mind once she climbed up behind him.  
>"Heh, hold on tight."<p>

The ride seemed longer than it actually was, mainly because she had never been this close to another guy before in her life.

Thoughts of Andrea made their way into her mind, was she feeling a little better about what had happened to her sister? Probably not. Not everyone was like Cat; she got over things pretty fast.  
>Before Daryl started driving off, Catori stood and took off her jacket, tying it around her waist. Daryl couldn't help but notice the brown corset she wore was around her mid-section but didn't cover her breasts. Lose silk-ish material that gave off a look of elegance was what covered her boobs.<br>The tight white-tan pants and brown boots she wore made him think of something from the fantasy movies, like the old movies about witches and such. Especially, with the white pearl rosary and the necklace that was a moon pendant on a black cord around her neck.  
>He forced himself to look forward when she sat back down and drove.<p>

Later was when they were out of the vehicles and the walkers attacked just outside the CDC.

"Rick! This is a dead end!" Shane almost pushed Rick as another argument started in front of their destination. She held her hands over her ears to block out reality, trying to focus on escaping.  
>"The camera moved!" Rick quickly lifted his hat a bit before banging on the door and screaming at the security camera, begging for the person on the other side to let them in.<br>Cat looked at Daryl, "They'll let us in right?" He said nothing with a stern glance in her direction, "Right?"

Words were jumbled together in shouts of anger and fear until nothing even sounded remotely like the human language anymore.

'We're gonna die!' She thought.

When the doors opened, everyone seemed to stand there in a state of shock and confusion before running in. The inside seemed empty of life as their words and footsteps echoed off the walls.  
>"Close those doors. Watch for walkers…"<p>

"Anyone infected?" A man with sun-touched hair just seemed to appear out of thin air, holding a gun, aiming at everyone.  
>"One of our group was. He didn't make it."<br>"Why are you here? What do you want?" The man asked.  
>"A chance." Replied Rick.<br>"That's asking an awful lot, these days." He stepped forward.  
>"I know…"<br>It was silence for a few seconds and Catori closed her eyes, not even listening to anyone anymore. She saw some from her group run out, grabbing supplies and running back in before being taken into an elevator.  
>In a big room, a few minutes later, more words were exchanged before blood was taken from each and every person.<br>Cat felt a bit light headed but said nothing, controlling a panic attack.  
>"She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have." She turned to see Jacque holding Andrea who seemed to be suffering from the same thing she was.<br>Next thing she knew, they were all eating together at a table, drinking wine and laughing like a family.  
>It took almost all of her strength not to laugh at Daryl, who was carrying the bottle, acting even more redneck than ever.<br>Rick turned and rested his gaze on their host who looked severely depressed and deeply in thought.  
>"I believe we haven't thanked our host, properly."<br>Their host was thanked and they were told about the massive suicides, he was the only one left. Everyone else was terrified of what could happen. He still worked on finding a cure, but was failing miserably. But once he mentioned hot water and them being able to shower, everyone almost died of happiness.

Cat took her time in the shower, loving the feel of the warm water against her skin. Underneath the flowing water, she let herself think of her father and the beginning of this nightmare she was now in. Her father, Meeko and Maska were gone. Tears threatened to overwhelm her so she forced her thoughts elsewhere. 'Water, water, water… Soap, shampoo, I'm actually clean! That's always a good thing.' She told herself in her head. 'Yes, warm water is a good thing…'  
>The feeling of being clean was so incredibly wonderful after going for so long without bathing. It was almost painful to step out and dry off. In the bathroom cabinets, Cat found a brush and a hair dryer. Whenever she took showers she would always let her hair air dry but she missed being in a normal situation so much she just dried her hair, taking her time to comb through the tangles. Catori took her time in braiding her green section of hair, using one of her fancier hair bows that were a glittery rainbow pattern.<br>Thoughts leading to Daryl made her blush a bit, she hadn't had a crush on anyone a long time. At least, not since elementary school. She was sure he felt some sort of connection to her, as well. "If things were still normal… Where would I be, right now?" Speaking out loud to herself, she finished with her hair and threw off the towel after she was dry.

In her room, she threw on a fresh pair of white panties and a long sleeved white button up shirt that was meant for a man, a very tall and bigger man by the looks of it. She had to constantly pull the shirt back up over her shoulder. 'I hate being petite…' She sighed and sat on the bed, pulling out a small notebook and a pen.  
>Automatically, her fingers moved the pen to form words that described the past few days in detail along with notes to remember. Writing her thoughts in a book was what kept her sane. She figured she'd just keep it hidden for the sake of her, and everyone else's, sanity. It'd probably freak normal people out. Maybe others would understand her better by reading it? But she didn't want anyone really reading most of the stuff in there.<p>

A cough grabbed her attention and she looked up to see Daryl.  
>"Hey… I was sure I had locked that door, guess I didn't…"<br>Daryl flicked the lock, "Locked now." He sat down beside her, propping himself up on his elbow in a somewhat relaxed position. "What you writing?"  
>"Just random things that want out of my head."<br>"Oooh, you have a diary?" He teased.  
>"I was told to keep it away from any other people that could possibly find it and read it."<br>"Why?"  
>"My thoughts that I must get out of my head and onto paper apparently make others feel as if they are going to go insane."<br>"Really?" He stretched out a hand, "May I read your little diary?"  
>She smirked and handed it to him and he scanned some words on the page for a good few minutes before handing it back, "Damn. That's all I got to say. That's deep. But I'd like to read it all one day so I can understand what's going on in that pretty little head of yours." He poked her head with his finger and she smiled, catching his gaze.<br>A hand reached up and cupped her cheek, pulling her to him. Their lips met and Catori experienced her first kiss. She quickly pulled her face away, feeling her entire body turn pink. "What the….what the fuck was that!" She asked with a bit of a girlish squeak that wasn't typically like her. Daryl pushed himself backwards a bit and leaned back on his elbows confidently.

"What? Like you've never been kissed before? Pretty girl like you? Don't play innocent with me." She hated that look in his eye. That look of experience and confidence and…that look like he could have whatever the hell he wanted! Cat started at him for a moment. She hated to admit it to herself…but she wanted him. She wanted him to have her.

"Seriously. I've never been kissed before." Her soft features formed a bit of a frown.  
>She couldn't understand why he had that stupid smile on his face.<p>

"What else…haven't you done?" he gave her a wink.

"Hey! There's nothing you could do that a vibrator can't, asshole!" She somewhat snapped playfully at him, standing up and pointing a finger sternly at him. Her oversized shirt fell off her shoulder.

"Oh my god! Are you sayin' your first time was with a hunk of plastic?" Daryl leaned back into the pillows behind him.

"Yep!" she turned her back to him and folded her arms with a small laugh.

"Hey…" Daryl sat up, putting his hands on his knees. "Come here…" His voice was sincere.

Cat reluctantly turned around to face him with a soft smile. Daryl scooted himself toward her and to the edge of the bed. "Let's do this…" He said softly as he reached a hand out toward the buttons of her shirt.

"Do what?" She asked playfully, feeling her heart race. She knew what he meant but it was merely a nervous response.

"I mean…it's you and it's me and we're in here alone. A dry…warm…walker free place. You need to enjoy a place like this. It ain't everyday a woman like you gets to be alone with a man like me." He winked at her as he unbuttoned three of her buttons. She didn't stop him. Her eyes were fixed on his fingers.

"I've never been with a man…doesn't that bother you?" She asked a bit nervously as he worked his way up her line of buttons.  
>Daryl laughed at her. "Hell no. God, it excites the fuckin' hell outta me. Shit, you got me…you got me sweatin' and I ain't never had that excitement from a woman in ages."<br>Cat didn't respond. She stood there trembling a bit as her slender stomach was exposed to him. "Relax…you're gorgeous…what are you so nervous about?" He asked of her, letting soft fingertips graze the tender flesh above her panties. "Maybe…you'd relax if you let me have a taste, huh?"  
>"You just love to brag, don't you?" Clearly, Cat was apprehensive yet at the same time…<br>"Judgin' by the look between your legs…you want me to have a taste. It's tough to resist me, ain't it?" He smirked against her ear, "Now, don't lie….cause your panties sure as hell ain't."  
>Cat thought for certain she was as red as a boiled lobster at what Daryl had just said to her. Like a gentleman, Daryl traced his hands up the sides of her body and pushed her shirt off her shoulders into a clump. "Join me….yeah?" Daryl patted the somewhat scratchy blanket beside him as he stripped his own shirt from his body and let it hit the floor near hers. Cat said nothing but wasted no time eye-fucking his body. She wasn't sure whether to hate herself for that…or give in to it. The fact that she was making herself comfortable beside him was proof enough that she was going to give in.<p>

She gasped a little at the feeling of Daryl tugging at soft cotton on her hips. "Holy….shit…" He muttered in awe of her. He put his hands underneath her thighs, pushing her legs apart. The delighted moan that escaped Cat was music to his ears. Okay, point Daryl 1, vibrator 0. She tried to silence her excitement as his tongue assaulted her. Her body writhed against him.

Cat spread her legs, reaching the headboard behind her and letting her back arch and relax in rhythm with him. She raised her hands and caressed from her mouth, brushing her flushed lips then runs her fingertips down her neck, reaching her chest. Catori ran her hot hands through her hair when she felt his eyes on her.

"You taste like pure honey…and I'm the king bee, baby." Clearly, he was pleased with himself.

Cat squirmed as Daryl's tongue was replaced with his finger. She whimpered a bit painfully.

"No, no…relax." Daryl put a hand on her stomach and pushed her body back down into the blanket, whispering in her ear for a moment.

"It hurts, you ass…" She mumbled. This felt…different then her vibrator ever had.

"Gonna have to loosen you up a little. You ain't felt nothin' yet…if you know what I mean." He winked at her, making eye contact once again. Just when Cat thought he had a softer side…  
>She took a deep breath and tried to let her body melt into the bed. It must have been at least a little effective. She could feel two fingers inside her…a slow, pulsating rhythm.<p>

She squirmed again…feeling her body invaded a little deeper. "You're doin' good…you're doin' real damn good." His voice was husky and hushed. Cat knew he was incredibly turned on by her.

"Put your hands on me, damnit." She demanded, finding the courage to pull her bra straps off her shoulders. She watched as he pulled away from her, kneeling at her feel and unfastening the buckle on his belt. Cat felt herself excited by the rips in his jeans as she watched him throw them to the floor. Her eyes met his as he reached his hands behind her back and unfastened her bra.

"That's what I like to see." Cat moaned sweetly as his tender hands fondled her.

Cat moaned sweetly as his tender hands fondled her. She had never been touched like this…so longingly as if he had never felt breasts like this. She could feel his warm breath on her chest. Daryl slowly pulled his hands down her body until he had reached her hips. He shifted his hands to his faded black flannel boxers, taking them off in a more awkward motion than before. Cat couldn't hide the expression on her face. She pined for him as she saw his naked form before her. "Well, if you like it so much…try it out." He smirked at her shifting himself forward over her body until he was able to put a hand behind her head and guide her lips over a firm shaft.  
>The smile on her face was almost wicked when her elegant hand rose up to meet her firm, soft cleavage as she gently brushes her tongue over his dick almost like a pro.<br>"Shit! I thought you were a virgin?"  
>"I am."<br>"You seem to know what you're doing."  
>"I read a lot of novels and books."<br>"Damn nerdy book worms… I knew I was missing out on something by not dating any of those."  
>She smiled and continued, flinging her long hair to one side so he could watch her every move.<br>Maybe next time he wouldn't automatically assume that virgins are clueless

He watched her mercilessly, guiding her free hand to move in motion with her lips. "That's the way beautiful…" He was a bit breathless. He was indulging on this sweet and innocent beauty beneath him. He pulled away from her rather suddenly.

"What'd I do?" Cat asked a bit embarrassed.

"You're doin' a little too good. Now's my turn." Without hesitation, Daryl shoved her legs apart and repositioned himself over her. "Here's the main event. Don't worry, he don't bite…unless you want 'im to."

Catori trailed the soft pinkness of her tongue over her full pouty lips as she locks her eyes with Daryl's.

She gritted her teeth a little as she felt the length of him push into her. All that practice by herself and she still wasn't entirely prepared for this moment. He was bigger than she had anticipated…and she was tighter than she had anticipated. He could hear her try to control her breath as he sunk into her.

Surprisingly, he looked her in the eyes as he let his hands rest on either side of her shoulders. Cat hoped this would get more tolerable. She found herself tense in the back. "You gotta relax. Come on…you know you like it…" his voice was hushed. Thank goodness he had locked the door.  
>The deep, throaty moans that escaped Daryl was enough proof that he was more than enjoying himself…in her.<br>She breathed deeper, closing her eyes and letting her lower back sink into the blanket. She knew she had to give in to him or else only one of the too of them would be climaxing tonight. Cat sure as hell didn't want to let Daryl win that contest. She tried to concentrate on the intense motion inside her and not what she wanted to happen.  
>She tried to concentrate on the intense motion inside her and not what she wanted to happen.<br>"You gonna say my name or what?" He asked of her. Cat couldn't hide her smile.  
>"Why, would you like that?" Her voice radiated confidence.<br>"I would like that." He insisted, shoving his body tighter against her.  
>"Mmm, Daryl…" She whispered.<br>"Louder…" He said softly on her ear.  
>"Do something to get me louder." Cat begged him even though she was in a little pain.<br>She grabbed Daryl's hips with her lands and wrapped her legs around him, holding him close to her so he couldn't move. Once she was sure her legs were holding him still, she reached up and cupped his cheeks in her hands, pulling him down into a passionate kiss.  
>Their deep kiss distracted Cat from focusing on everything else. She lost herself in his motions, in his heat and moaned through pursed lips. She broke her lips free breathlessly.<p>

"Daryl…." She was much louder this time…a little too loud perhaps. He was close…very close.  
>"I can't hold on…I can't…" She whispered breathlessly. Her voice was full of heat despite its softness. And then…<br>It was a flood of her body and his body melded into one.  
>Cat had never felt that before. Well, she had….just not like that. She still had her arms wrapped around him, her fingers dug into his back as her heart raced. She could feel Daryl's pulse throb in his neck against her skin.<br>Eventually, he placed a kiss on her forehead and pulled her against him and they both fell asleep.

Daryl's eyes shot open and he sat up in the dark room. For a moment, he had forgotten where he was and let out a sigh of relief when he remembered he was safe from the walkers. Beside him was Cat, lying on her back. Her right hand over her stomach and the left beside her head. Beneath her, brown hair was spilled out in a very elegant manner, her green braid just over her shoulder. The blanket covering up to just below her belly button.

Daryl had been with plenty of women but they were all the same. He usually went for the blonde chics with huge tits and had fake tans that were somewhat easy to ignore along with the caked on makeup. This girl… She was far from that. Pale, even though she spends most of her time outside. Her hair was nothing like the blondes he used to date. Her breasts weren't huge, maybe about a B going on to a C. Her personality was dark, almost had a gothic touch to it, she wasn't overly loud and always laughing like his past girlfriends. Girlfriend…  
>Would she want to be considered as such?<br>He just couldn't figure out why she was…better than the others.  
>Maybe he was just getting soft…or growing up. He had to admit Andrea was hot but he just couldn't bring himself to go for any other girl. He never went for virgins, anyway! The redneck wasn't used to the idea of being in love after growing up with a drunken father, his racist brother taking care of him.<p>

What would Merle say about this one? Congratulate him? 'Nah.' He thought, 'He'd beat me over the head with a fuckin' stick, probably.'

_"Carl! No! Carl!"_  
><em>"Was he bit?"<em>  
><em>"Shot! By your man!"<em>  
><em>"I'm sorry…"<em>  
><em>A gunshot was heard followed by painful screams.<em>  
><em>"I know what kind of person you are, Shane."<em>

Cat opened her eyes and sat up straight into Daryl's arms.  
>"It's ok. It's ok."<br>Then Cat done something she had never done in front of another living being.  
>She cried.<br>"Hey, you're ok." Daryl knew what type of person she was and didn't know if he should worry that she was crying on him, or feel privileged that she was actually crying in front of him.  
>"You tell anyone about this and I'll kill you."<br>Daryl pulled away from her and looked her in the eye, "Listen. You shouldn't cry. An angel's tears are too pure for this world to see."  
>It wasn't long at all before they both fell asleep once again in each other's arms.<p>

Daryl stirred and reached over for Cat. He saw she had put his shirt on to sleep and he wasted no time working his hand under the edge of it. His touch woke Cat. She stirred a bit and turned her body toward his touch.  
>"Hey." His voice was hardly audible in the silence of the night. "You should know, I get so horny around this time almost every night."<br>Normally, Cat would have thought that comment to be a bit conceded but he sounded sincere and he had so much want for her.  
>"Daryl… She uttered as she felt his tender hands on her skin.<br>"Cat, I want you." He said through hungry lips.  
>"I know." She responded.<br>"No, I mean… I really want you. I don't just want you right now." Daryl said.  
>"I want you, too. In so many ways."<br>"You really should wear my clothes more often," Daryl said, pulling her on top of him. Cat laughed softly at him.  
>"You're sexy. Everything about you is so fuckin' sexy." He kissed her gently.<br>"You know, Daryl… I'm no virgin now. I'm ready for more." Cat clung to him.  
>"No you ain't." It was all he said before kissing her deeply, a smile touching her lips.<br>She put her arms around him as the weight of Daryl's body sunk into her.

"What is it…about us virgins you males like so much?" She laughed sweetly.

"You got lots a' learnin' to do….and the lucky guy gets to do all the teachin'." He laughed at her and stripped her body of his shirt.  
>"I thought I already knew half of what I was doing." She mentioned earlier. "I read."<br>"Thank God for that. Now, you just….lay there and let me do all the work. I'll give you a job later….that's a mouth full." He winked at her quite thrilled with himself. Cat couldn't hide her laughter.

"Daryl, shut up!" she said it teasingly this time. She sighed at the feeling of him very suddenly inside her.

"Shouldn't we…be using…I don't know, some kind of protection for this?" She clung to him.

"Little late for that shit, baby." He answered her.

"Well, a baby is not what I'm aiming for anytime soon." Cat moaned again. She didn't care right now. Granted, she wanted to…but she didn't. He was taking her over. Daryl shifted his body on her. She was alarmed when he pushed her over to her stomach and pulled her body down toward him. Damn it he was strong….she hated to love that about him.  
>Daryl pulled her body up until she was on her knees.<p>

"You're gonna have to hold on tight." He warned her, grabbing a fistful of her brown and green hair.

"What are you… Ah-!" She cried out much too loudly than she should have. His hands, his chin against her shoulder….everything. It was unlike anything she had ever imagined…or read about.

Cat could feel her knees going weak. He shoved her face forward into the pillow beneath her and for good reason. The howl that escaped her would have woken the world. She didn't quite anticipate him pulling out of her so quickly, but her body had turned into a rag doll and turning her over to face him was like flipping a pancake. And then….Cat gasped as she felt him overtake her again. The fire she felt between her thighs was about to reach it's peak. Daryl, being the gentleman he was, watched in delight as her body gave into him. She hadn't even finished her own climax when she felt a warm and messy slop cover her stomach.  
>Cat panted through clenched teeth as she drug her hands over her moist stomach; spreading the heat of her lover over her.<p>

Cat's breath finally returned to normal, the pulse in her neck rested. She still had her hands on her stomach in what had become a semi-dried mess. She knew she couldn't just roll over and go to sleep. She'd make a mess of the sheets…and her lover.

"Ok, I'm taking another shower."  
>"Again?"<br>"Uh, yeah." She poked the tip of his nose and went into the bathroom. The water was turned on and she stepped into the shower. Her eyes were closed as she stood under the warmth of the water, not even noticing Daryl sneaking in behind her. She slightly jumped when his arms wrapped around her bare waist.  
>"The others aren't awake yet. It'll be hours before they wake up."<br>"What are you trying to say?"  
>He smirked, "We could always have a round on the table in the lounge.<br>"Oh my God, you're horrible!" She turned and kissed him, her hands cupping his cheeks.  
>His lips were around her nipple in a heartbeat when they shifted, him pulling her against him with her legs around his waist, her back against the wall of the shower.<br>"Daryl…" He loved it when she called out his name in that tone. A tone that was quiet, yet loud and sexy all at the same time. When he entered her, it was slow and wonderfully tormenting. After a few thrusts, he moved a bit and shifted his hips down slightly, pressing the head of it against her puckered hole.  
>"Daryl-!" She cried his name and tightened her arms around him, "I've never….."<br>"So the vibrator didn't claim this area? I'm the first?"  
>She nodded, blushing madly. "Yes."<br>Cat felt uncomfortable when he began to push his cock into her tight ass, her gasp echoing against the shower walls. She felt overwhelming pain then sudden exquisite pleasure that she couldn't get enough of.  
>"You- …Have a big dick…"<br>"Why, thank you." His grin made her heart beat even faster as he moved, "You know how to make a man feel good about himself." His eyes looked into hers, "You alright?"  
>His response was a shy nod and he continued, moving faster.<br>As he thrusts into her, his hand traveled down to fondle her and her cries became louder. The two came at the same time.  
>They stayed in their close position for a few minutes afterward until Daryl spoke, "Well… I guess we'd better finish our shower…"<p> 


	3. Clairevoyance Revealed

**Zirconia**: I don't own the Walking Dead or any of the characters. I only own my oc who is Catori. No flames, please. While trying to edit, I probably screwed up and copy and pasted more than one of the same sentence or misspelled a lot of crap. Heck, there's probably words joined together without meaning to be so bare with me. Some of the dream bits and bits that are supposed to be like read from something were supposed to be in italics but I don't know if all of them copied like they were supposed to onto the document thingee. The part where her friend dies in school is based on what happened to one of my friends when I was in high school.

* * *

><p>Everyone was still upset and depressed about Jackie being gone and the CDC not being able to find a cure. Catori rested her head against Daryl's back as they rode. She just said to hell with the helmet this time. She felt closer to him without it, anyway. Once she felt him slow down she looked up and saw the highway littered in wrecked and stopped vehicles.<p>

"How are we going to get through that?"

"We'll manage." He pulled around a few vehicles then stopped. Behind them the RV was stopped and several people got out and Cat climbed off the motorcycle.

"This is a graveyard…" She heard Lori say.

They proceeded to search the cars, some separating from the others.

In the cars they found plenty of batteries, which were a perfect fit for their flashlights. Carl and Sophia had found a few boxes of snacks foods, which was happily accepted.

Catori looked in a truck and found a handgun with plenty of ammo in a box. It was packed with a bunch of food and hunting supplies, fishing rods and such in the backseat. Of course, everything was taken. The driver of the truck was dead, his neck looking as if it were snapped in two with a gunshot wound to the head. A thought that came to her head was that the man had been bit, turned into a walker then shot before anything could happen. The body was still buckled up but then again walkers weren't the smartest things in the world.

"What'd you find, Kitty?" Daryl's voice behind her was followed by a pair of hands on her waist.

"Fishing supplies, a gun, ammo." She smirked, "Mine now."

He laughed, "Can't go wrong with fishing gear."

"Think Dayle will think the fishing stuff worthy?"

"Hell yeah, that shit is worthy!" He pecked her on the cheek and went to scout out the other cars.  
>The woman picked up the tackle box and fishing rods along with the big box of ammo with the hand gun and made her way back to the RV. Rick met her half way there, "Look what I found!"<p>

"Thank God for rednecks." He said, taking the box of ammo from her and walked along side of her the rest of the way to the others. The items were packed up and she was off through the mess of cars again. She didn't want to take everything she saw since more survivors would probably come along and need some things but something told her that the group really needed it and that there weren't many survivors left.

It was then when Cat heard something that sent chills down her spine so turned around and saw that which she really did not want to see. Her first reaction upon seeing the herd of walkers was to find Daryl. Once her eyes found him, he looked back and motioned for her to duck down.

Cat laid down and rolled underneath a truck, praying like she never had before. The many walkers had not seen any of the people in their group, thankfully. At least, not yet.

Why was it that when you are filled with fear, seconds seemed like never ending hours? Cat didn't even notice she had curled up in the fetal position as the dead passed them by. A scream filled the air and Cat rolled out to see Sophia running down an embankment, followed by two walkers. Rick stumbled after her. In a silent panic, Cat ran in the direction Rick and Sophia went. It didn't take long at all for Daryl and Shane to follow with Glenn.

"Stupid, stupid! Why didn't she wait until we knew the coast was clear?" Shane complained as they ran.

"Shut up and run!" Daryl yelled at the cop, "She didn't know."

They all met up with Rick and saw Sophia wasn't with him. He looked inside of a fallen tree as they approached. Shane looked at his friend, slightly out of breathe. "Where is she?"

"I told her to head that way and to keep the sun on her left shoulder!" Rick almost yelled, clearly he was trying to calm his panic.

Daryl found tracks and began to follow them, Glenn and Shane going back to the highway.

The couple along with Rick tracked down the girl, eventually finding another walker. Daryl wasted no time in taking it out with a head shot from his crossbow.

"It has fed recently. There's flesh in it's teeth..."

"Only one way to find out." Daryl startled both Rick and Cat by ripping the walker's shirt and cutting into it's stomach. The only thing that slightly worried the cop and the woman was the fact that he knew exactly where everything was when he found the stomach and pulled it out.

Cat couldn't help but laugh when they cut open the stomach and Daryl pulled out a set of teeth. "Looks like he had himself a woodchuck for lunch..."

"At least we know..." Rick shuddered, turning a bit green.

It broke Cat's heart to see the sadness within the entire group when they brought the news of not being able to find Sophia.

She wasn't able to look at the look of horror on the distraught mother's face so turned around and went to look more. The others didn't question Cat's sudden turn around.

'She's not going to make it if we don't find her right now...'

She was gone for a good long while but she came back empty handed once again. This time, she couldn't block out Carol's sobs.

The brown and green haired woman sat down next to Andrea and watched as she tried her best to fix her father's gun. She thought about helping her but figured it'd be a rerun of the last time she tried to help her. She really didn't feel like getting yelled at tonight.

Upon watching the blonde and the pieces that were a gun, she laid her head down on the table and fell asleep.

Sophia was scared, lost, alone. Her screams were painful to listen to.

But Cat stood and saw a barn with a rather large man standing in front of it. His eyes were red from crying as he walked away. She felt herself walking closer to the barn door…

Cat opened her eyes and shot up off of the table, falling out onto the floor backwards with a rather loud squeak.

Carol's voice was the first thing that alerted her that she was not alone, "Cat? You… Are you ok?"

Catori turned to see the woman staring back at her as if she had lost her mind, "I-I'm good… Um… This never happened, k?"

The mother responded with a nod and a sad smile before she stepped out of the RV.

The fallen woman had to use the walls to pick herself up.

About an hour or so later, the group were back out in the woods searching for Sophia once again. So far, no luck. They had only found a tent with a dead guy in it, which Daryl very bravely entered long enough to grab the dead man's gun. The smell was horrible as they zipped the tent back up, planning to go far away from the stench.

Church bells interrupted their thoughts on the dead body's smell.

"Sophia could be there!" Carol began to run, "She might've heard the bells and ran to them!"

"Carol! Wait!"

All of them ran until the church along with a small cemetery was in sight. The run through the graveyard seemed so long as if the church were getting farther and farther away but they were sure the little girl had to of been in there.

The entire group wasted no time in running inside, stopping when they saw people were sitting around. They all began to calm down until the people faced their direction.

'Walkers…' Rick thought, disturbed by the fact he almost mistook them for praying people.

Him, Shane and Daryl ran ahead of the group, taking out the three dead beings. Daryl stopped, wiping the sweat off of his brow and looking at the statue of Jesus, "Hey, JC. You takin' requests?"

After the area seemed calm, Carol approached the statue with her voice almost whispering a soft prayer for her little girl.

Cat had never believed much, she was more Atheist than Christian but at this point…she figured anything dealing with prayers and gods would help everyone feel a bit positive in this now dead world so dropped to her knees and began to pray.

"Kitty, you ok?"

She heard Daryl's voice behind her and she stood up with a nod.

"We're heading back to the highway." He took her hand in his, "Unless you want to stay, of course." He picked on her and she smiled. "You okay?" He asked.

"Just have a bad feeling is all. Daryl, I don't think we will find this girl alive."

"You're just paranoid. We'll find her."

On the way back, a gunshot echoed through the woods. Lori was instantly worried about Carl, Rick and Shane, who had gone in another direction to look for the missing girl.

Everyone assured her that the group of three were ok until a girl came galloping through the area on a horse.

"Lori Grimes?"

Lori stepped forward.

"You need to come with me, there's been an accident. Carl has been shot."

Lori gasped and ran to the girl, jumping up on the back of the horse. Daryl tried to protest, "We don't even know this girl!"

"She has a trustworthy aura around her, let her go." Cat said, placing a hand on Daryl's back.

"What?"

"Trust me."

Daryl seemed to growl for a moment but managed to nod before leading the rest of the group back after the farm girl gave directions to their house.

Glenn was worried. In his mind he was thinking of how the world had taken away the only kids in their group in such a short time. Such innocent lives didn't deserve such things. It was hard for him to think his next thought but it seemed the kids no longer had time to be kids. It was time for them to grow up if they wanted to survive in this new world.

Daryl had led the rest of the group to the farm house on his brother's motorcycle. By the time they got there, Carl was ok and Tdog had been stitched up and bandaged. Shane seemed a bit off and out of character and the man that owned the place was just plain mean in Cat's opinion. Other that that…

Everything was peaceful for the moment.

Cat was sitting in her tent, thinking. She had a bad feeling about Sophia but didn't want to tell anyone. Daryl had faith that she was alive, that was why she didn't have the courage to discourage him with her thoughts. It had only been a day or so but Cat feared the worst and began plotting ways to cheer up the child's mother. She seemed a bit jealous after seeing the attention Carol was giving to Daryl but she pushed the childish thought away. Cat told herself it was just a mother thing, trying to cling onto someone for comfort since her husband was dead and her daughter was missing. Anyone would need comfort in that kind of situation.

'How can I be jealous at a time like this?' Cat thought to herself, feeling childish, 'The woman needs comfort, I shouldn't think that way.'

Daryl had found some good evidence on little Sophia but she still had the worst feeling in her gut.  
>When he walked into their tent, Cat looked up at him.<p>

"Daryl… We need to talk. I…don't think Sophia is alive…"

"Not you, too..." Daryl seemed to snap a bit.

Cat was at lost for words for a second but managed to speak once again, "I just...have this really weird feeling that something happened to that little girl."

"Just stop. You don't know that she is dead!"

"Daryl, think for a sec-"

"No! Why is everyone so set on giving up on this kid? Shane was being a complete bastard now you're telling me-"

Cat grabbed his arm and tried calming him down but he just jerked away from her.

"Daryl... She is only a child, alone in a world filled with walkers... If this were a normal situation...I would have faith that she was alive but right now, the way the world is...I know something has happened..."  
>"Just shut up to me, ok? You're being a stupid bitch just like everyone else! She is not dead!" He snapped and she just nodded to him, proceeding to leave the camp area.<p>

Daryl just sighed and shook his head. He was not giving up on this little girl, but everyone assuming the worst was annoying him to the point of almost going insane. The hunter heard Rick announcing he was going with Cat into the woods to search for Sophia, yet again, and laid back in the tent. His gaze made it's way to Catori's side of the tent and he saw her notebook. 'Curiosity didn't kill the cat, it had kittens.' He thought a bit angrily, grabbing it. She wasn't here and he was bored, looking for reading material.

On the inside cover was a picture of a couple. A real redneck man in hunting gear standing beside a woman who was wearing a cowboy hat and cut off shorts with cowboy boots, 'Damn. She's hot.' He looked on the back and saw the names.

'Virgil & Ann.'

Her parents, huh?

He could see Cat took after her mother more than her father and somewhat smirked. Upon opening the book there were poems and writings of events and such along with some pictures in between the pages.

"Note to self, never trust happy people in school when they invite you to their table."

Daryl leaned back on the sleeping bag, reading more of the notes she had written, making sure to keep the feather that was in between the two pages in place.

"Never go out with a popular guy. He'll find a reason to beat you and make you a joke amongst everyone." He read this and became a bit mad but saw a picture of Cat with a group of artsy type people on the next page. He noticed she had a bruise on the side of her face and a wrist brace on in the pic. Below it said, "Never judge people by appearance, those who look bad are usually the nicest and most loyal friends anyone could ever ask for."

Reading on, he then saw something that startled him a bit.

"Note to self: Never let people know when you can see spirits and know when something bad has happened to someone. They'll either make fun of you horribly or just freak out and cause a commotion."  
>Daryl became a bit nervous as he got to a more diary-ish entry, "October 30th, 11:28 a.m.: I woke up with the most horrible feeling after having a dream where my good friend died. Can't sleep now but it really worried me. I'll try calling him before school."<p>

The page was flipped and the next entry was read.

"October 31st, 3:30 p.m.: I called Josh this morning but he didn't answer. He wasn't at school. Around 1:00 p.m. I heard from his girlfriend that he was in the hospital. Apparently, he got drunk at a Halloween party then overdosed after sucking the juice out of morphine patches. He's nothing but a vegetable in the hospital now, hooked up to life-support and in a coma."

"November 1st, 3:00 p.m.: Life support plug was pulled, Josh was brain dead. I don't think I can go to the funeral. I can't see him like that…"

"November 2nd, 7:00 p.m.: I told father about all of the dreams I had when things happened the following day. He says I have a gift but to me it feels more like a horrible curse. I just won't let anyone know about it. Father said my mother and grandmother were the same way. Some kind of psychic crap runs in the family. When I wake up from nightmares to find out the nightmares were visions, it makes me feel useless. I can't help anyone because I'm always to late. I can't tell anyone other than my father because they think I'm playing some kind of sick joke."

Daryl sighed, flipping through more pages. He wasn't sure what to think. The last pages is what made him worry the most.

"I had some weird dream about a big guy, no idea who he was. Rick was screaming for his kid and Shane was shooting someone but it wasn't clear. I don't know what will happen." He noticed the date for this entry was a few hours before they escaped the CDC explosion. But he couldn't stop reading…

"I had yet another dream but this time Sophia was running around in the woods by herself. Random places flashed into my head and I have no idea what it means. I'm hoping this is just a dream, not another vision. But there was another dream where Daryl was hurt very badly. Maybe I should tell him. I don't want him to think weird of me but I don't want him to get hurt, either. Why can't I live a normal life… I feel like this whole walker thing is a bad dream but I don't want to wake up. Bad dream or not, if I wake up then I lose Daryl…"

Daryl closed the book and put it back in her book bag, not sure what to think. His girlfriend was afraid of the gift she had. If everyone knew of it, they would understand. Rick would, anyway. How was Daryl supposed to act towards her now? Something happened to him in a dream as well as Sophia and Carl.

But Shane…

"Daryl!" Dayle ran up to him with a very concerned expression, "It's Cat..."

"What about her?" He asked, still a bit peeved from their earlier argument.

"She's hurt..."

He looked up, a shocked expression crossing his features, "Where is she? What happened?"

"She wasn't bit but it was a walker that caused her getting trapped in some old barbed wired fence in the woods with Rick when they were searching for Sophia."

Without a second thought, Daryl jumped up and ran towards the house. Feelings of guilt and regret were nagging at his mind. This was his fault. If they hadn't gotten into that damned argument she would be safe!

He entered the house and found one of the rooms he assumed Cat was in.

"-always had barded wire fences there, over the years they rusted and were hidden by leaves. You might have a little trouble walking for awhile. I'm sorry your pants are ruined."

"We'll find her something."

"I'm leaving now."

"You need to stay off of your leg, young lady!"

"Don't 'young lady' me. I have things I need to do." She snapped at the old man.

"Is Daryl one of them?" Shane's voice was sarcastic.

A punch was heard and the door opened. Daryl saw Shane holding his face next to a concerned Rick and an angry Cat. Hershel was just shaking his head, not wanting to deal with any of these people. But he moved to Rick's arm which was torn opened.

"Cat…"

"Hey…"

Daryl took her in his arms, "I'm sorry 'bout earlier."

"Why? It's me who should be apologizing. Now help me out!" They both smiled at each other as they took each others hand.

Gold eyes watched Lori as she went about her schedule. Cat knew something was off with her but she didn't want to automatically assume. She had a friend once that acted the same way when she found out she was with child.

Daryl had left earlier on a horse, he probably didn't even ask to use, and another group which went another way into the woods. The other group had returned but there was no sign of Daryl. She started worrying but tried getting her mind off of it by reading a random book she had found in the RV. Falling into a light sleep was not on her to do list…

She opened her eyes and saw herself standing in front of the barn. Though the sky was dark as if a horrible storm would hit at any second, she just stood there. The door moved a bit as if something had bumped against it from the inside. She was reaching to open the barn door-

"Walker! WALKER!" Andrea screamed, startling everyone near her and waking Cat from her cat nap. All of the men picked up their weapon of choice and ran.

"Andrea, no! Don't shoot!" Dayle had said, strictly.

Andrea aimed, not listening so Cat joined in, throwing the book down, "Don't fucking shoot! I don't feel like hearing the old farm man's shit! Put the gun down!" But she didn't listen. "Andrea! Stop! Don't shoot!"

They could all see the men had stopped around the said walker and were just standing. Then Cat remembered the dream she had had. "Andrea!" A shot rang through the air from Andrea, hitting the walker.

"Yes!" Andrea said with a smile.

But a yell from the area where the men were caught their attention, "No! No!"

Dayle looked through the binoculars again and gasped, "Oh no…" Then looked at Cat who had her hands over her mouth.

"Oh my God, no…" She looked and saw them carrying the 'walker' up to the house, "DARYL!"

"He's ok, just unconscious!" Rick exclaimed. "Just grazed him." They pulled him in the house and Cat stopped just outside the door. She fell to her knees with her hand over her mouth, tears falling from her golden eyes.

"Cat…" She heard Andrea say behind her.

"You… You bitch!" She cried and lunged towards her but was caught by Dayle, Shane and Glenn. "You BITCH!" She tried to speak but her words were just jumbled from her crying. But they did understand,

"You shot my boyfriend in the fuckin' head!"

"He's ok, Cat! He is just unconscious! Calm down!" Dayle assured her.

Andrea held her hands over her mouth, tears in her eyes now, "I'm sorry…"

Only Daryl had seen Catori cry so this was new to them all.

"Oh my God…" She clutched at her chest.

Andrea almost asked but kept her mouth shut, "Look, I'm so sorry."

After a few minutes, Rick came out with the news that he was awake and ok. Cat walked into the room and saw Daryl all bandaged up on the bed.

"Daryl…"

"Hey, Kitty…"

Cat walked over to him and sat down, gently touching his bandaged head. "You ok?"

"Do I look ok?" He smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Love your new necklace, by the way." She picked up the cord which had ears decorating it.

"Yeah, figured I'd start taking trophies."

"Thank God you're ok…" She laid down beside him, wrapping her arms around him as gently as possible. Daryl closed his eyes, laying his head against her chest, thinking of his brother's words.

"I have to ask you something Though…I don't know why this is botherin' me so much." He looked up at her, "What exactly did your ex-boyfriend do to you?"

"What?"

"Your ex-boyfriend. What did he do?"

She was quiet for a minute or so and Daryl could tell she was all of a sudden nervous, "You actually read my book?" She felt him nod. "I was more of a loner in school, got made fun of a lot by the popular people. This jock guy named Brandon came up and asked me out one day. I had nothing else better to do so I said yes. I thought maybe dating would be fun. He just ended up constantly hitting me, making me sit at the table with his other girlfriends so I could listen to them tell me how hideous I was. He broke my wrist and punched me on my jaw but…that's when I lost it and blacked out. When I came to… He was on the floor in front of me, I had grabbed his baseball bat and beat the shit out of him. The next day his friends tried to jump me at the school and the others in the art club with me took up for me 'cause I was sore from being beat on the night before… He just hit me a lot, said I was an ugly piece of shit that didn't deserve to live."

Daryl was shocked! He forced himself to sit up and placed a gentle hand on her cheek, "I hope I meet this mother fucker one day." He tilted her face up and looked her in the eye, "You are the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen on this planet. Don't you ever for one goddamn minute think you are ugly!"

The woman nodded and pulled him against her, "Thank you."

"You the sexiest thing I ever seen, damn girl."

She blushed, "S-so you read…everything in that book?"

"Yes."

Cat felt faint all of a sudden, a panic attack starting to form in her chest. Daryl felt her trembling and heard her heart beat suddenly. He laid her on her back beside him on the bed, "Cat?"

"You read about Sophia? And…Shane?"

He nodded, "And the random big guy? Calm down. Ain't nothing going to hurt you or anything. Nobody else will find out."

The next day, Andrea was leaving the tent after apologizing to Daryl and ran into her, "Uh- Cat…"  
>"Andrea, I'm sorry about yesterday… I just… I freaked out, forgive me."<p>

Andrea just nodded, "It's ok, I'd be pissed if someone shot my boyfriend in the head, too."

Daryl looked up when Catori entered the tent. She groan and flopped down beside him, "I'm tired."

"You need some sleep. When was the last time you done any of that?"

"Eh…" She closed her eyes with her hands behind her head. Daryl just snickered and continued reading the random book Andrea had given him.

The damn barn. Why is it so fucking special? She was in front of it again, the big guy from before with his hand on the door. His hands chained the entranced and he walked away, walking through Cat in the process as if she were a ghost. Her head turned to look at him then turned back to the barn. Her pale hands opened the door and saw an entire group of walkers and in the back she saw a flash of dirty blonde hair that seemed awfully familiar-

"Cat! Wake up!"

Her golden eyes flew open and she sat up. He saw her hide a tear from him, "Hey, what's wrong? You were freakin' out in your sleep."

Cat covered her face with her hands, crying softly, trying not to alert anyone, "I can't stand this…"

"What?" He asked, "What is it?"

"I keep having dreams about that fucking barn but now I just opened the door…" She sobbed. "Daryl, I think there's walkers in the barn…"

"What? That can't be possible, we'd have known by now if there were."

The woman shook her head.

A few hours later, Glenn was watching the barn, she knew what would happen, eventually. But Cat didn't want everyone to freak out. She started thinking of ways to keep Glenn's mind off of the barn. If the nightmare was true, she didn't want anyone getting hurt.

Daryl was sitting her with her hand in his, speaking to her softly. She'd giggle from time to time but no one really heard what the two were saying.

"There's…walkers in the barn." Glenn's voice echoed in her head and Cat swore her heart stopped dead in her chest. When following everyone, it was like the video games. Everything was quiet and all she heard was a loud ringing in her ears from her heart beating so fast. They stopped and they all saw the doors moving and heard all of the evidence they needed.

"I'm gonna be sick-!" Catori threw her hands over her mouth.

"Calm down, Kitty."

"I can't stand any of this, anymore." She thought she had said it only loud enough so that Daryl heard it but there was another.

Rick looked at the girl trying to keep her lunch down then looked back to the barn.

While the others argued, Daryl and Cat made their way away from the barn. Anywhere but the barn was comforting at the moment for her.

"Cat, maybe you should tell Rick about these dreams you have."

She shook her head, frantically. "Uh, uh! I can't-"

"Catori?" Rick's voice reached the couple's ears, "Are you ok?"

Her eyes stared into his and he saw her tears. Daryl nodded to his lover and she looked up at Rick, "I…need to tell you something but it's going to sound really weird."


	4. Newbies

**My God, I rushed through this. I added more ocs so I could kill them later, mwahahahaha! No, but seriously... I probably made so many grammar and spelling mistakes along with having the same word typed at least 2 times beside each other in a few sentences. If you see a mistake or repeated sentences or something, please tell me! Help me out!**

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><p>Rick looked up from the book Daryl had handed to him, "So… You tend to dream about what's going to happen?"<p>

Cat nodded.  
>He handed her the book. "Well… Not sure what to say but I won't tell anyone if you do not want me to."<br>"Please don't."  
>Rick nodded but turned when he heard quick footsteps. It was Lori, "Rick, there are these people that arrived at the house. Say that they found the place by accident but are requesting to stay the night."<br>"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to meet them." He sighed, "Meeting people that are actually alive is always a good thing."  
>Dayle and Carol were talking to the three boys and the two girls standing behind them. Rick just walked up to the group and shook each of their hands.<br>Daryl and Cat went back to their tent, Cat hiding her book at the very bottom of her backpack.  
>"Rick won't tell anyone." Daryl said, stroking his fingers through her hair.<br>"I know. He has an aura around him that speaks of nothing but trust."  
>"You know, you really are an interesting person. Kind of weird but interesting weird." He kissed her soft lips and smiled, "Everything will be ok."<br>Rick had brought the group over to the couple, introducing them to everyone.  
>"This is Daryl and C-"<br>"Catori?!" The main guy said with a laugh, adjusting his glasses, "I thought you'd be dead by now!"  
>"Hello, Brandon…" Cat said, sourly.<br>"Cat? You mean the geeky chic you dated?" The darker haired guy beside him said, laughing a bit, "Oh, I remember her now!"  
>Brandon? Daryl remembered what she had told him the day before, "This is the guy that hurt you?" He asked her calmly.<br>She nodded.  
>"These are his other friends and girlfriends that tormented you, as well?" He was very calm.<br>She nodded.  
>Daryl walked up to Brandon and held out his hand, "Nice to meet you-" He bashed him in the face with his crossbow, "You mother fucker." Daryl proceeded to climb on top of Brandon and delivered hard as hell punches on his face.<br>"Daryl!" Rick and Cat were screaming for him to stop. The male with the darker hair in the group tackled Daryl off of Brandon but Daryl just rolled over, proceeding to punch the guy. Though he aimed for his face, he ended up targeting his throat area when he moved. The third one in the group just stood there with the two girls, looking completely horrified as the hunter beat the shit out of both of their friends at the same time.  
>"Daryl, stop!" Rick grabbed Daryl's arm but Daryl threw the cop backwards, away from him.<br>"Daryl! That's enough!" Cat touched his shoulder and he stopped, mid-punch, "That's enough, 'k?"  
>Daryl nodded to her then slowly stood up with a growl. He was forcing himself to stay as calm as possible for Catori.<br>He turned to the others in the group, "If any of you bastards so much as even look at her the wrong way, I will not hesitate to kill you. That goes for the bitches behind you, too."  
>The two girls were crying and holding each other behind the third male.<br>"Same goes to you two." He looked at Brandon and his friend who were barely conscious in their own blood.  
>"I'm watching all of you. Be very careful what you say or even think about because I will hear it." He took his crossbow in hand and wrapped his other arm around Catori, "Come on, they aren't even worthy of your presence."<br>"Shit!" Glenn was behind them and tensed as the two walked by. Daryl grabbed Glenn, "If anyone has the old man bandage them, I'll kill them as well."  
>Glenn nodded.<br>Walking away from everyone, Cat smirked and held her hand out and Daryl reached out his and gave her a low five.

"Thank you, Daryl."

"You are very welcome!" Daryl replied with a smirk of his own.

"I very much enjoyed that."

"I'm glad."

That night, Daryl made sure to harass the new group as they slept in their tent. He would throw rocks, hitting the walls of the flimsy fort but the beings within did not dare go out and say anything. They had guns, yes. But Daryl, there was something about him that gave off the 'alpha male' vibe and they wanted no trouble with him.

"OK! Ok, first thing in the morning, we apologize to Cat." Brandon said, placing a finger on his busted lip. "We were immature and we are grown now. We might not find another group of people for a while."

"Maybe the cop will let us stay with him and his group?"

Daryl was outside the newbie's tent. Inside, Brandon held his hand up after hearing movement outside. After that, he heard something that he didn't expect.

"Daryl, what are you doing?" It was Catori's voice. More movement was heard before she spoke again, "Why are you trying to get back at them for me? What's done is done, love."

"After the way they treated you?"

"If you let grudges rule your life then you aren't even living a life of your own anymore. I admit it was hilarious watching them get the shit beat out of them but no more, k?" She wrapped her arms around his waist and put her head against his chest. "We should help them, let them stay with us."

Daryl's arms went around her as he spoke, "Even after everything they have done to you?"

"That's over and done with. This is now about survival. We need to find as many living people as possible."

Inside the tent, Brandon sat back with a look of concentration on his face.

"Brandon?"

He had to agree with the girl outside. Survival was important now. He had to fix this.

Brandon stood and walked out of the tent, approaching Catori, "Cat…"

Catori looked a bit unsure at first but answered. "Yes?"

"Look, I'm… Well, we're sorry. Me, Kory, Chad, Brooke and Mina were immature. All through school and today but we just realized that you are right. I think I might have matured from listening to what you just said. If you allow us to stay, we will do our part in helping search for supplies along with food and water. We'll share what we have right now as well in our van we…kind of stole…" Branson sighed, "That sounded bad, so much for the mature part."

"I don't think it matters, anymore. The stealing a random car part, anyway." Rick walked up next to the group, glad they set aside their differences. "You can stay with us, but…" The entire group was out of the tent by now and stood listening to the police officer. "We do not steal from each other. We always keep a check on all of our weapons and ammo as well as our water and food. If anyone needs anything, please ask instead of just taking. All of us take turns to stand watch, keep an eye out for walkers or anything out of the ordinary. We all help out each other and there is no fighting, at all. Is that clear?"

All of them nodded and they each shook Rick's hand, sealing the deal. It was true, all of them had matured upon hearing Catori's words but they were still shaken up by Daryl Dixon who was making damn sure they didn't even look at the brunette the wrong way.

Mina walked up to Catori and Daryl, her slightly high pitched voice speaking, "We have water in our van along with some ammo." Her beautiful brown eyes shimmered in the night. She was wearing a black halter top with blue jeans and a leather jacket that went well with her slim figure and curled hairstyle. This beautiful African American woman was wearing actual shoes instead of boots or high heels and Catori noticed for the first time ever that she was actually short. She assumed it was the high heels that made her tall and scary when they were in high school.

Brooke, on the other hand, was taller and a bit heavier. Though she was not considered fat, she wasn't considered skinny, either. Still as beautiful as ever with her short white blonde hair and her pale-ish, slightly sunburnt skin; she seemed unsure of herself as if she no longer had self-esteem. She was still dating Brandon, it seemed.

Daryl stepped closer to Catori but nodded at the two females that had moved forward. "Go inform Dayle of the ammo. He's the one that's mainly in charge of the weapons." He looked back at Catori and nodded before walking back to their tent and crawling in.

Brandon looked at Cat and coughed a bit, scratching the back of his head. "We do have something to admit, though."

"What?"

"The only reason we are still alive is because of Chad's wicked baseball skills. We don't know how to shoot at all."

"I'll teach you, then."

"Wait, you know how to shoot a gun?" He seemed shocked.

She nodded, "-And crossbows, old school bow and arrows, rocket launcher… You name it, I can shoot it."

All the men in the new group's jaws dropped.

"How'd you learn all that, girl?!" Chad almost yelled.

"I grew up around weapons of all kinds. I went on my first hunting trip when I was four years old, learned to shoot actual guns when I was ten. We're teaching some of the others to shoot tomorrow; I can teach you then if you wish." They all nodded, "Now go to sleep."

They all went into the tent except Mina who went towards Cat.

"What is it?"

"This is going to sound random but do you have any feminine products?" She whispered. Cat handed her what she needed and she smiled, "You know… We really were wrong about you. You're pretty bad ass."

Cat sighed and nodded to Mina before turning on her heel and went back to cuddle up with Daryl.

The next day started out well but Shane ruined everything. Catori had felt her stomach in her throat when she heard Shane yelling at Rick who had helped Hershel round up some walkers and ran to the barn. Rick knew what Catori and Daryl had told him so tried his best to stop the crazed man.

Mina ran up with Chad and Brandon, with their weapons drawn. They had discovered the one child that had been missing so they were determined to protect Carl who was with Lori.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion when Shane opened the barn doors and the walkers emerged. Rick held his breath, as did Daryl but neither were going to let them attack anyone in the group.

After all of the walkers had been shot, soft gasping breaths could be heard from behind the doors and Catori covered her mouth, tears in her eyes as she looked to Daryl. She knew what happened next and so did he…

Small steps were heard before the little blonde haired walker crept out.

"Sophia!" Carol ran towards the dead little girl to embrace her but Daryl caught her, dragging the poor woman to the ground.

The little walker crept closer but no one dared to even move, except Rick. He held his gun up to the walker's head and shot. After that, it was quiet except for Carol's sobbing in Daryl's arms. The newest members of the group who had only arrived a day before seemed to be stunned.

"Sophia!" Carol jerked out of Daryl's arms and ran to her child. That was when Cat approached her as well, kneeling beside of her and placing a gentle hand on her head. Another scream had her attention and she jumped up, reaching for her gun. The zombie body of a relative had grabbed one of the girl's arms; she hadn't been put down completely.

Everything seemed to be happening at once. Everyone's movements to get the bodies of the dead, their movements to pry Carol from Sophia's body, then Cat's own movements that were slow footsteps back to her tent.


	5. Candy & Books

A walk in the woods gave Catori time to think on everything that had happened the next morning. Most of the others were still asleep when she left except for Hershel who left for a bar and Shane who was lurking about.

There were no walkers around to be seen so the young woman remained calm as she made her way towards the creek area. Soft wind gently made its way through the area and she sighed. Though she was homesick, she knew she couldn't go back home to her father but part of her felt that this was her new fami-

Quick footsteps caught Cat's attention. She closed her eyes and counted.

1… 2… 3… She stood from the fallen tree and jumped just out of Shane's reach, "Shane?"

"Well, I guess you do have fast reflexes."

"What are you doing?"

"Following you." He stepped forward and she stepped back. "I have a favor to ask…"

Back at camp, Brooke ran up to Daryl almost tackling him.

"What the hell?"

"It's Cat! I saw her walk into the woods but Shane started acting strange before he ran after her…"

"Let me go, you fucker!" Cat struggled against the cop. His fingers already leaving bruises around her wrists and neck.

He let her go after getting an elbow to the nose and she wasted no time in running.

She always talked about beating a bitch's ass if something like that was to ever happen but now that it had actually happened, she found herself frozen almost and unable to defend herself. But once he loosened his grip she made sure to just get the hell away from him.

She made her way to the large field where she saw Daryl running towards her with T-Dog and Rick behind him.

"Cat!" She ran straight into his arms and clung to him.

"Daryl-! Shane, he tried to-!"

"I'll get him." Rick looked as if he had gone psychotic as he walked into the woods with a gun in one hand and a metal pipe in the other.

T-Dog opened the first aid kit he had brought and asked Daryl various questions after Cat refused to speak. "I don't know if she was hurt or not but something was telling me to bring this along for her."

"Thanks, man…" Daryl nodded to T-Dog then turned back to Catori who was trembling as she held onto him for dear life. "Come on, we're going back to camp."

"N-no… I can't… I don't… Can I just stay away from people for a while? Please?"

The hunter stood there then nodded, "I'll move our tent a good ways from the others; that sound like a plan?"

She nodded.

Later, Shane arrived and T-Dog was the one to act for Daryl. T-Dog had spoken to Cat before and considered her a sister more than anything. So, T-Dog did what any good big brother would do. He punched the cop in the face before he could even speak, "What kind of sorry fuck are you, man?!"

"Can you blame me?!" He screamed back, watching Dayle walk up to him. "I need some kind of stress relief!"

"I think it best if you just left everyone alone for a while, Shane."

At the edge of the field, Daryl had set up the tent where they were in sight so the others could keep an eye on them and vice versa but far enough away to not be bothered.

She was inside the tent with her knees towards her chest and her eyes staring off into space.

"Kitty?"

"You know… I always said that I would kill someone if they ever tried something like that… But… Now that it actually happened, I found myself frozen and terrified… My father would be so disappointed in me…"

"No, he wouldn't. You hit the fucker in the face and ran to get help. You just got scared; it's okay to be scared." His fingers traced over the bruises on her neck then the cut on her leg under where her skirt was ripped. "I should kill the bastard!"

"T-Dog already took care of it. I saw it while you were setting up the tent down here."

Daryl's fingers reached up and stroked away tears she hadn't even known was there.

...

Back at the camp, Dayle was furious with Shane but managed to stay calm by coming up with another list of supplies for Glenn to gather on his next trip to town. Thunder rumbled gently through the sky after his part of the list was complete. One thing listed being magazines or a new book, at least. Being at the end of the world with a few boring books was murder.

"Dayle?"

"Glenn, here's the list." The older man handed over the piece of paper, "Anything on your mind? You look a bit distracted."

Glenn's cheeks turned a bit red, "Well, Catori gave me her list of stuff this morning but when I walked out to where they moved the tent to ask her if she needed anything else since her list was short and… Uh…" The sentence was left unfinished and he scratched his head.

The elder of the two just laughed and patted Glenn on his shoulder, "Chances are, Genn… She is making Daryl erase what happened with Shane. It's fine." His eyes looked at the girl's list in Glenn's hand, "She wanted candy?"

"She said low blood sugar was never a good thing but she's mainly doing it for Carl. She said kids need candy but I think I'll get enough for everybody. That place did have a lot of it. I'm pretty sure it's still good, most of it." He was quiet again before he spoke once more, "I'll go now."

"Be careful."

With all of the stuff he had brought back, Dayle was surprised the horse held out under so many bags.

"You find everything?"

"Yes, sir!" Glenn reached in one of the bags and pulled out two books, "I got you these and a few more to go with it."

Dayle looked at the first book and looked back up at the Asian, "Twilight?"

"Yeah… I liked it!"

He looked at the second book, "World of Warcraft?"

"…I'll go give everyone their things!" Then Glenn ran, leaving the old man with the big bag of books. He had grabbed nearly all of the books in the store; surely there was one he'd be interested in.

Cat was lying in the tent with a blanket over her body; she had her bra and panties on but had no intention of putting anything else on at the moment. She had her weapons with her so if anyone tried to do anything to her, they'd get a bullet between the eyes faster than Glenn when he screws Maggie.

"Knock, knock!"

Without thinking she held up the gun and only lowered it when she saw Glenn's terrified face.

"Sorry!"

"It's okay, I'm sorry. I've been a bit jumpy today…"

Glenn kneeled beside the opening of the tent, "I got almost all of the candy in the store, including the little boxes of chocolate. Those things last longer than I thought."

"Thank you!" She looked in the bag and pulled out a book. She looked at it for a moment, "The Boondock Saints?"

"Yeah! It's an awesome comic! I thought you'd like it so I brought it back. It seems like it'd be up Daryl's alley too."

"Awesome, thanks."

A familiar voice called his name and he nodded a quick goodbye to Catori and ran to Maggie.

Catori started reading the comic, it didn't take too long since she was a fast reader. After that she opened a box of the little chocolates and wrote in her book some more with her stuffed dragon plushie in one arm. Cat was laying on her stomach, her elbows propping her up and her feet up in the air behind her as she wrote and snacked on the chocolates slowly. Once it started getting dark, she turned on the two lanterns that lit up the tent like it was daytime.

She couldn't help but feel relaxed when Daryl stepped in; stopping when he saw her lying on the floor of the tent on top of a blanket with her stuffed animal in one arm, her book opened in front of her and the other hand had a chocolate. She was mid bite and had frozen when he stepped in. "Damn…"

She began moving and shoved the rest of the chocolate piece in her mouth.

"That made me feel better, walkin' in on that."

"What's wrong?" Cat held up a chocolate piece to his mouth and he bit down, taking it from her before settling on his stomach beside her.

He didn't seem happy at all, "The guys brought back some kid with them. Came from a group that tried to kill them."

"Did the group follow?!"

"No."

She relaxed again. He was worried about the situation.

Cat closed her book and put it back in her bag carefully then zipped it up. She blew out one of the lanterns and moved to hug Daryl.

They stayed that way for a while in each other's arms, not saying a word. Before pulling apart, Daryl kissed her forehead.

About that time, Mina's voice came from the outside.

"Cat? You in there?"

Then Chad's voice was heard. "They could be doing something nasty and calling it clean, Mina! We shouldn't bother anyone at this hour!"

"We're not doing anything." Cat answered.

Then Daryl added, "Not anymore." He earned a snicker from Chad. After Cat had the blanket around her, he unzipped the tent and Mina waved, "Hey! I brought you a pair of jeans. They might be a little big since you're skinny. I heard about your skirt and all…" She handed her the folded up pants that were almost identical to the first pair she had before she was forced to wear the wretched skirt.

"Thank you!" She jumped up, throwing the blanket down to hug the girl. Mina didn't care about her state of dress; they had the same thing only Cat was white and petite. Chad, trying not to piss off Daryl just looked up at the sky until he was given the okay to look at the other couple again. "Hey, Daryl…"

He looked up at Chad, "What?"

"The others didn't really agree with me but… Something isn't right about that kid they brought back…"

Daryl lifted his hands towards the heavens, "Thank you! Finally someone sees it from my point of view!"

"Brandon is somewhat paranoid about him too. He's keeping an extra eye on him with Kory."

"Psht! I trust that kid more than that Shane guy!" Mina voiced her opinion, in which Cat agreed. "But screw all of this shit, I'm going back to my tent and I'm going to sleep." She waved to Cat and Daryl before grabbing Chad and leaving.

"They really have grown up, I'm proud of them." Cat smiled. She cuddled her back up to Daryl's chest while he pulled the blanket over them and they both went to sleep.


	6. Another Angel

__**I kind of rushed this one a bit. Sorry its been a while. I got Norman Reedus' autograph! My cousin helped me send it through this fan mail thing. I criiied happy teeears!**

* * *

><p><em>"How long have I been walking now?" Cat had thought while she was walking. She lived in the woods in a sort of country-like area so when she saw everything in the small town she realized that the worst part was probably over. Cars were abandoned, windows broken, the dead bodies were lying here and there and the stores were torn up.<em>

_Her hand touched the leather satchels that were on a strap around her hips and realized that both were empty. Of course, being in an abandoned town without many walkers, she walked into some stores. Some more medicine was gathered and some beef jerky that came in a pack with crackers. She did have deer jerky from home, it'll last a good long while but Catori didn't feel like taking off the book bag on her back and digging around for it until she made a camp that night. She didn't need to eat much anyway. That was one thing her father had hated, she'd hardly eat but now she considered it a blessing so she would have plenty for the future._

_After the young woman grabbed the first aid supplies she needed she heard a growl and turned to face the back of the store. The gun which had a silencer on it was in her hand at an instant. Slowly, the walker made its way around the corner and saw her. Golden eyes widened when she realized who it was, or rather what it was._

_"Oh my God…"_

_It was a child, around the age of five. But this wasn't just any child; this was her cousin's child! She knew that little face anywhere._

_"No… Macy…" She gasped, "How'd you even make it this far from home?"_

_Macy's lips curled back and she started rushing towards Cat._

_"Macy… Please!" She cried as she held out her gun and aimed, "Macy… I'm so sorry! Please, forgive me!"_

_Then she shot with a silent cry._

"Macy!" Catori woke up with a quiet scream of her cousin's name, "Oh my God!"

"Kitty! What's wrong?" Daryl poked his head into the tent before he crawled in, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. She was trembling from the memory. "Shh, you're okay. It's okay."

It took a few minutes but she managed to catch her breath. Once she could speak she asked Daryl, "Don't you ever sleep?"

"Yeah, sometimes. But right now I have something to take care of." He kissed her lips, "You're safe, okay?"

The next day was certainly not boring.

"I don't feel so good…"

"It's probably the antibiotics, you didn't eat anything with them and they require food."

Brandon volunteered to go with Cat and Carol on a quick walk through the woods and he had tripped over the same barbed wire fence Cat and Rick had been hurt by a week or so before. It was terribly rusty so Maggie made him take a Doxycycline pill in case of an infection.

Of course, he complained at first about the pill being huge before Rick told him he could lose his arm to an infection. "You just learned to shoot with both hands." He had said.

Later, it was cloudy with a severe storm forming while near dark and Cat was helping Lori with some chores. Mainly washing a few clothes and cooking. Lori noticed that the other girl was quiet for the most part and seemed to be a bit paranoid when anyone would walk around her. "I'm proud of you for handling the situation with Shane and coming more around all of us again."

Catori sort of nodded, "I guess I can't blame him, this dead man walking business is driving everyone a little crazy I think."

"No!" Lori grabbed Catori's chin, gently turning her head to face her. Her voice was gentle but stern at the same time, "He had no right to do such a thing, end of the world or not! Sure it's making some people a little different but there are still laws in my opinion. Too bad one of those laws is to not kill the living or I would have killed Shane myself already!"

Cat could tell there was more behind her anger than just what he done to her.

"Lori, I wish I was like you."

"What do you mean?"

"You have so much self-control and you're the perfect role model."

Lori shook her head at the role model part, "You have no idea. I'm not the perfect role model."

"I know something happened between you and Shane."

Lori hesitated for a moment, hanging up a sheet on the makeshift clothesline. "Did you dream that?"

"H-how did you know about that?" She started to panic.

"Sweetie, calm down. Only Rick, Dayle and I know. We aren't telling anyone else unless you want us too." Lori reached over and hugged her, "I like to think of you as a daughter figure and me a step mother in a way. If you ever need anything you can come and talk to me about it, okay?" Lori patted her hand on Cat's cheek and they gave each other small smiles before turning back to finish with the chores.

It was dark from the storm before she saw Daryl again and he was furious at the new kid they had brought in.

"I should find them and kill them all!" He had said when he made it into the tent after pacing outside of it. He had calmed down a bit and Cat decided to talk to him. Once he told her of the kid's story, she looked away with an angry but slightly panicked look on her face, "Daryl, only the kid knows and he's being held here. The others have no idea, yes?"

He could see the worry in her eyes and pulled her against him, pressing his lips to her forehead, "I don't think so but I promise, no one will lay a hand on you!"

"I have another weapon now." She looked up at him and smiled, "I'll use it on them if they do find us."

Catori reached behind her big book bag and pulled out a metal baseball bat with some of the rusty barbed wire around it tight. It was obvious the bat was old and rusty but it was still way usable. "Where the fuck did you find that?"

"Half buried in the woods! I just got some of the barbed wire and secured it around it, tight. The barbed wire is on this thing for good and it has proved worthy." She smiled and he laughed a bit.

"You never cease to amaze me, Kitty." He sighed, "If ANYONE tries to hurt you again, I will not hesitate to kill them."

The wind picked up and blew against the tent. Thank God Daryl knew how to put up a tent and make it sturdy. Once the rain started pouring, Catori looked up at Daryl as he took his shirt off and lay back onto the blankets. "This is going to hold up, yes?"

"I built this to withstand a category 5 hurricane on a beach. Of course it'll hold up!" He tried to sound angry but he couldn't help but smile. A bright flash of lightning was followed by a loud clap of thunder and made the young woman jump which made the hunter smirk. His arm was held out and she curled up against him, laying her head on his chest.

"I love you."

"I love you, more." He responded.

"What are the walkers doing during this storm?"

"Still walkin' around like a bunch of drunk idiots."

Cat thought back to her father-

_"Dad, who is it?"_

_"Some drunk idiot stumbling' around on our porch!" He opened the door, "Am I gonna have to kick your ass and make you leave in an ambulance?"_  
><em>The man stumbling on the porch looked up at Virgil and growled. Cat saw his eyes from across the room, "Dad! Something's wrong with him!"<em>  
><em>"Yeah, he's a drunken piece of shit!" <em>  
><em>"No! Daddy! Get away from him! Close the door-!"<em>

"What's wrong?" Daryl nuzzled her hair, noticing something was off.

Cat was quiet for a moment, "My father…"

"Yeah… You never told me how your story went before the camp outside Atlanta."

She was quiet again.

_"Some drunk idiot stumbling' around on our porch!"_

"We were just sitting in the living room. It had been one of those days where we done yard work."

_"Dad! Something's wrong with him!"_

"I had just taken a shower and was curled up on the couch with a book about mermaids and Daddy started yelling at this man he claimed was drunk that was on our porch." Cat sighed and paused for just a moment, remembering she hadn't really taken the time to cry over her father's death. "After a while, Dad went outside to beat the crap out of the guy and when he opened the door…"

_"Daddy!"_  
><em>"Cat! Run!" His scream echoed through the house and Cat ran to the gun cabinet. She heard barks but when she turned around, saw that their two Siberian huskies had been victims of the insane man when they tried to protect their master. <em>  
><em>"Maska! Meeko!" She aimed and pulled the trigger, hitting the walker in the head. "Daddy!" Cat kneeled next to him and held his hand. Virgil was shaking and going unconscious. "Cat-!"<em>

"After that… Everything seemed like a nightmare."

_"I love you, Daddy."_  
><em>"-Love you too, baby."<em>  
><em>His eyes rolled up in the back of his head and she cried, standing up and going to get some treasured things. She couldn't stay here. <em>

"I decided to leave so went and packed my things. I knew the reports on the radio were related to what had happened and I just had to get out. The emergency broadcast system had been going on and on, repeating itself for a few days… I knew that if it was as bad as it seemed, there would be some sort of shelter for the survivors." Again, she stopped. "I had to try and find others that were alive, I couldn't stay there… When I was leaving…"

_Once ready, she turned and saw her father standing up, "Daddy! You're ok!" She ran to him but stopped when she saw his eyes, "Daddy?"_

"I knew what I had to do after that… It was the most painful thing I had ever done…"

Daryl rubbed his hand over her back as she forced herself to remain strong.

"Kitty, you need time to mourn. You haven't recovered from this yet." He saw the look she gave him, "I won't judge you because crying over someone's death helps you move on better."

At that, she burst into sobs. The storm wasn't loud anymore. Cat cried into Daryl's chest, pitifully. His heart broke at the sound.

"I… I don't know what I'd do if I lost you, Daryl."

"You would continue to survive."

"Without you?"

He kissed her forehead, "Catori, you survive as long as you possibly can. I love you, alright? That's not going to change."

She nodded, "I love you, Daryl."

His arms tightened around her and the lay down in each other's arms.

_"I'm sorry, brother."_

She woke up with a quiet gasp, glad Daryl didn't hear her. The scene was black, nothing was seen. She just heard Daryl's voice.

_"I'm sorry, brother."_

'Brother…' She thought, 'I heard stories about Merle from the others… I'm just keeping this to myself.' After that thought, she stood up and put her clothes on then left to go see what the others were up to.

Out of boredom, Cat decided to make Daryl some extra arrows with some sturdy sticks.

"Cat?" Lori's voice called, "Have you seen Carl?"

"No, not yet. Is he missing?"

The mother put her hands on her hips, "He just ran off again, I don't know what I'm going to do with that boy!"

Behind Catori, Daryl wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her cheek, "I'm going to go find Rick, talk to him about our new friend."

Then he was gone before she could say anything.

He had told her what the kid had told him and he had been furious. No, furious was an understatement. For the good of the group, Daryl wanted the kid dead and she was sure the rest of the team did as well.

Throughout the meeting with everyone, she had to agree with Dayle. The group was losing their humanity in this world that now belonged to the dead. Sure, the kid ticked her off just like he had pissed off the others but was shooting him really the right thing to do?

That was when the group decided to kill the kid they had taken in after the bar incident. They never heard the gunshot.

"They didn't do it." Lori whispered, more to herself than to everyone else. Catori walked out to be alone for a while. Daryl had started to approach her after a good while. He was opening his mouth to say something when they heard a scream.

"Dayle!"

Without a second thought, they ran towards the direction of the screams. Andrea and Daryl made it to the scene first, before Cat and the others. The walker was taken down and Cat stopped when she saw what had happened.

"Hershel!" Rick screamed.

For an old man, Hershel ran rather fast. He made it to the area where Dayle was dying and Rick was nearly at his breaking point. Dayle was like the father of the entire group! But they all knew there was nothing they could do to save him, he was suffering.

Rick's eyes were full of tears when he kneeled down with the gun aiming at the older man's head, the pain in his heart was seen visibly. With a shake of his head, the cop shed a tear and relaxed his hand for a moment.

Daryl reached down and took the hand gun from him and nodded for him to back up. Rick had taken down Sophia, he couldn't shoot Dayle too. He was suffering but it was to hard for him to put him out of his misery.

Daryl kneeled down in Rick's spot and held the gun out to aim at Dayle.

"I'm sorry, brother."

The shot of the gun went unheard by Cat as his words echoed through her head. She turned, shaking her head and started towards the house.

Carol followed her, running as fast as her feet could carry her. Her hand caught her shoulder and pulled her towards her, wrapping her arms around the younger girl in an attempt to comfort her.

If she'd have told someone, even she knew the dream where she just heard her lover's voice wouldn't give any warning as to who he was saying it to.


	7. Separation

"Oh my God…"

Carol's voice was the first one she heard when she came out of the bathroom where she had taken a shower and thrown her clothes on. All of her stuff was in her backpack she carried and the satchel she carried on her belt that hung against her hip. After the satchel was securely attached to her belt with her weapons and knives in her pockets and clipped onto her belt, she stepped outside and made her way up beside Daryl.

That was when she saw what they were seeing.

"A herd that size will tear down the house." Daryl said; nodding towards the giant group of walkers headed straight for them.

"I can't find Carl! He's not upstairs!"

"What?!"

"Son of a bitch…" Daryl muttered under his breath as he reached for his lover's hand, "Come on, Kitty."

After a few minutes, Cat was riding on the motorcycle with Daryl. He pulled up not to terribly far from the barn. He shifted a bit on the bike then turned to Catori.

"This is going to get kind of rough." He gave her a smirk when he said his next words, "You ready?"

"Always."

The herd of walkers came closer until the two were shooting left and right. Her knife was forced into several skulls of the walkers that managed to get close to her. "There's way to many, Daryl!"

"I know! Damnit!"

"Shit! This is getting to be too much!"

"We have to move away from this area! Hang on!"

It was easy to see everyone alive in the farm house area was beginning to scatter. Cat knew that half of the people in their group probably wouldn't make it. Normally, she'd have faith but in a group of walkers of this size. There was no way.

Without any warning at all, a walker was on top of a fence post and dove towards the bike. Cat felt the walker's hand grip the back of her jacket and jerk hard.

Daryl couldn't react fast enough.

"GO!"

He heard her voice but he couldn't see her for the walkers falling over top of her.

"Catori?!"

"Just go! GO NOW!"

It was the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.

Catori was sure she wouldn't make it through the small group that had attacked her after she was jumped but somehow she did. They all fell on top of her as she busted her knife to their heads. The weight liked to have killed her until she got all of the bodies off of her.

Okay, she wasn't bit or scratched. Her ankle was hurting, twisted most likely but definitely not broke. She could just walk it off. She hoped Daryl had gone like she told him too for his own safety. Thankfully, he had. She'd find another way out of this hell.

"Brooke! No! Brandon!"

'That was Mina.' Cat turned and saw the barn erupt into flames and caught sight of Mina running with Brandon who had about three walkers attached to him.

"Brandon!"

Catori ran to her and saw Brandon's eyes were closed as the walkers chewed on his flesh. One of them had reached out for Mina but Cat managed to get there in time to twist its arm in an unnatural position before stabbing her knife through its head. "We have to leave!"

"But Brandon-!"

"He's gone, Mina! We have to go!" Cat forced Mina to let go of Brandon's body and they ran as fast as they could towards the woods, dodging walkers left and right.

It took forever for Cat to calm Mina down so her cries would stop attracting walkers. It was morning when they arrived back to the highway where they had left supplies for Sophia. Carl, Rick and Hershel were already there.

When the others arrived, she saw Daryl and ran to him without a second thought.

"Cat!" He ran to her and held her in his arms tight. "Fuck, girl! I thought I had lost you! Were you bit?"

"Not even a scratch." She smiled.

Hours later, she was still riding on the back of the motorcycle, cuddled up as close as she could get to Daryl. She thought she had lost him. Words could not explain the happiness she felt when she saw him again, alive and well.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Daryl."

"You told me to leave, I thought you were…" Dixon trailed off looking as if he were going to burst into tears.

"I told you to leave because I thought I was a goner." She snuggled against his back, "Thank you for listening to me."

When they all left, everything seemed so weird without the RV and extra vehicles. After a while, Catori started to doze off against his back. That was, until Rick began to honk the horn. Gas was a problem this time.

They all decided the best option was to stay just off the road for the night. Half of the group went to get firewood while the others set up the small camp area after Rick and Lori walked off and had a talk that neither of them looked happy about when they came back.

"We're all infected." Rick says, "At the CDC… Whatever it is we all carry it."

The group seemed to be breaking apart almost, Cat had no idea what would be in their future and she hoped she had no more visions. Even if they were helpful, she still had plenty of space in her notebook that was in her backpack and she didn't plan on dying any time soon.


	8. Time Jump

Daryl knew when he heard Beth singing that Cat's predictions were once again right. Since he refused to sleep in a jail cell, Cat stayed with him on the perch.

He was awake when she woke up with a gasp.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing…"

"Another dream?" He received a nod.

"I just heard a woman screaming…" She made sure to talk quietly so no one else would hear. "I hate this." Cat took out her book and began writing something in it. Daryl looked over her shoulder and read what she wrote.

'_Worried about Lori.'_

"You think Lori will go into labor soon? It's about that time, ain't it?"

She nodded, "It's the only thing I can think of but… Something about it seemed off."

Daryl wrapped his arms around her and held her close while she doodled on the page. He could tell she was a bit worried about Rick's plan for them to clear out the prison, section by section. But she had told him that she knew he would survive no matter what happened.

"I still can't believe we found this place."

"Hopefully nothing bad will happen."

"Bad follows us everywhere, Daryl."

He nodded and tightened his hold around her after she put her book back in her backpack.

The next morning when everyone woke up, Cat didn't argue with Daryl when he asked her to stay in the safe zone with Lori, Carl and Carol. He made it clear that it wasn't him thinking she was weak but wanted her to be safe.

Once inside, the walkers in the area were killed and everyone was inside Cat didn't hesitate to check all of the cells to make sure they weren't occupied.

"Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Hershel and I are going to search the rest of the prison sometime soon. Will you keep an eye on Lori?"

Cat smiled at her lover and leaned against him, allowing him to embrace her for a moment.

"Yes, I will. Rick doesn't seem to care all that much about her anymore."

"Exactly and I don't know how good of a protector the kid is by himself." His lips pressed against her head, "It'll be alright." Then Daryl left with his signature bad ass expression he always wore.

What nobody expected was when they came back with Hershel, who was missing a leg. Of course, Catori went to Daryl only to see him aiming his trusty crossbow at a group of men she had never seen before. "Daryl?"

"Cat, go back." He snapped a bit without meaning too but it was the only way he could get his command to sound serious without looking at her.

With a glare at the unknown men, Cat took her knife out of her boot and put it in Daryl's pocket. "Don't hesitate."

"I won't, baby."

She then pointed to the man with the red hair and the mustache, "He, you can trust. I can tell by looking into his eyes."

"You are pretty good at reading souls through their windows but I'll think about it."

The taller African American man, she could sense was trustworthy as well but the Hispanic one sent her looks that promised nothing but trouble. But she listened to Daryl's words and went back to the others…

'_In your head, in your head. They are fighting, with their tanks and their bombs and their bombs and their guns, in your head, in your head, they are crying. In your head, in your head. Zombie, zombie, zombie-bie-bie'_

They were all separated when the alarm went off. Cat was alone and had been separated from the others. Having been sliced open on her upper arm and leg by something on a fallen door, she couldn't tell what it was, only that it wasn't a walker. She ran back to a cell and slammed the door shut. She wasn't sure if she should be happy that the cells door somehow locked automatically. Now she just had tons of walkers reaching for her with morbid pouts on their faces. "Jesus, God!"

Only four bullets were left and they didn't last long.

Hours went by, she had finally stopped bleeding and all was quiet except for the walker's growls and moans until she heard someone attacking them. When she looked up, she saw Rick with a ruthless expression on his face. "Rick! Thank God! Help me out!"

His head turned and looked at her but his eyes were so emotional; she couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Rick?" Catori rested her hands on the bars, "Rick, what happened?"

The man's eyes closed and he walked away, out of the area where her cell was.

"Rick?! Rick! Come back! Rick!"

What was she going to do now? Were the others still alive? Was she going to die in here because Rick had gone insane it seemed?

"Rick! Oh, god…" Was he just going to leave her here? "Help! Rick! Someone! Help me!" She rattled the door and made as much noise as possible. "Oh my God, the others! Where are they?!"

Light headed from loss of blood she had lost through her arm and leg. Cat frantically opened one of her satchels she always kept attached to her belt and searched through the items, luckily finding some of the anti-biotic pills she had from the farm. She just prayed they hadn't expired and still had some effect. Why didn't she keep bandages in this satchel instead of her backpack?

"Where's Cat?!" Hershel was the one to ask and Daryl searched through the group.

She was missing and he had no idea where she could be. On a mission, he walked inside and was followed by Glenn and Beth. An hour went by and no luck but he wasn't giving up. Glenn went back to Maggie and Daryl made Beth go back to Hershel before he continued on by himself. Her name was called at the top of his lungs more than once, not caring if any walkers heard. Two more hours went by and nothing. He was about to give up when he came to the door that led to another cell area.

Once in, head looked in the cells and upon reaching the fourth one he saw her curled up on the bed. She was facing the other way and was not moving at all, seeing the blood on her arm and leg. He prayed that she was still human and not one of those things.

Softly, he approached the cell and put a hand on one of the bars. "Kitty?"

Her head turned and she rolled half over slowly. The site before him made him think she had turned until her soft voice said his name.

"Daryl?"

"You okay?"

"Rick just left me here…"

"You saw him?" He began unlocking the door.

"He killed all of the walkers that were trying to reach me through the door… He looked out of it, like something had possessed him."

The door was finally opened and he walked in, "Come on."

Her coat was still back where the group had made their little living area so when she turned he saw more of the blood on her arm leg, "Were you bit?"

"No. I ran into something on the door when I was trying to get away." Standing wasn't an option as it felt like the muscle in her leg had been ripped half out by the door. "I'm clumsy. No wonder they didn't leave, you can smell my blood a mile away."

Daryl picked her up in his strong arms, "Come on, we need to get back to the others."

"Mmkay."

For once, she didn't have the jacket on and you could see the straps in the brown corset like top she always wore. Pocket knives and other sized knives were hidden all in the thing. It matched her brown boots where weapons were also hidden. Her white shorts were a bit short, almost showing her butt cheeks but not quite, but the belt around her hips that decorated the said shorts had one of the satchels she carried on it still opened from earlier.

Catori was as strong as any of the men in the group as well as protective and Daryl couldn't help but think how hot she was even when she was wounded and bleeding.

'Damnit, I have problems.' He thought quietly to himself.

Maggie smiled when she saw Daryl bring her back to their little area, "Thank God! We were worried."

"No thanks to Rick. He found her and left her while he was on his little rampage." Daryl's voice sounded ill and full of anger. Cat was sat down in a chair and she gasped when she saw the newcomer.

"Lori had her baby!" She smiled then noticed something, "W-where is Lori?"

The entire group was quiet and Daryl sighed a sad sigh and put a hand on her shoulder, "She didn't make it…"

Carl's expression showed he was more in shock than anything else and Cat stood up then limped over to the boy and wrapped him in her arms. When he hugged back, she began to cry silently.

"Hey, little Ass Kicker!"

Carl snickered and Cat turned around to see Daryl holding the baby. The sight before her made her want to have one with him. Approaching the two, she held out a gentle hand and placed it on the baby's head.

"Where there's death, there is always life."


	9. Lil Ass Kicker

"Little ass kicker is kind of cute." Daryl fed the baby and Catori's heart melted at the sight.  
>"Yes, she's adorable. She had Rick's nose and mouth. But she has Lori's eyes." Catori's eyes went down then looked over at Carl, "It must feel amazing to be a big brother!"<br>"Yeah, I guess so…"  
>"You get to teach her everything you know. She'll always know she can come to you when she can't go to Rick. Trust me; there will be those types of moments. Even if you think it's stupid she'll need her big brother to guide her."<br>Carl sort of turned his head to the side a bit as if he were thinking, "Huh, didn't think about that. But what if I'm not a good big brother?"  
>"You will be." She smiled and gave him a hug then turned back to Daryl, "Let me hold her."<br>Daryl handed the baby to her and watched as she sat down and ran her fingers softly over the baby's head, "You're beautiful, little one." She was so motherly; it was a side of her Daryl had never seen before. Now it was his turn to be amazed.  
>He had never thought about having children before but with her, he figured it'd be wonderful. To his surprise, she began to hum a song. Though it was a bit sad, the baby seemed to like it.<br>The two newest members of the group stood against the wall away from the others and Cat looked up from the baby and spoke to them, "You've proved yourself worthy not just as allies but as friends. You can join us."  
>Daryl was still cautious but she had a point. Besides, it was only two of them. Daryl was equivalent to an army of 20 soldiers if not more, that with the others in the group could stop them easily if they tried anything. Axel seemed a bit fearful around Cat, which that only boosted her confidence that a convict of all people acted as if he were scared of her.<br>Why did that make her feel good about herself? She thought for a second and came to the conclusion that she wouldn't have to worry about him messing with her.  
>Maggie and Hershel discussed the baby needing food and formula. Daryl was one of the first ones to volunteer to get search for some. Maggie went with him.<br>Beth looked hesitant for a moment before she spoke. "Where do you think Rick went?"  
>"Maybe he hit a wall and got lost?" Cat said with seriousness over her face.<br>The red haired prisoner snorted a quiet laugh and they all turned to him.  
>"Well, he thinks I'm funny."<br>"N-no, just the way you said it."  
>"It alright, man. Relax." She nodded to some chairs, "Sit down. It's okay."<br>"I think maybe Cat might be right?" Glenn looked sort of shaken up, "I saw Rick earlier and he seemed…crazy."  
>"Tell me about it. He left me locked in a cell after I ran in there trying to get away from walkers. The door slammed shut and locked, he came running by, killed the walkers, and looked at me crazy then left."<br>"Um, you're bleeding." The red haired prisoner said to Glenn. His green eyes caught the wound Catori sported and he pointed to her, "You are, too."  
>"Only a flesh wound." She responded, handing the baby to Carl.<br>She made her way to the first aid supplies where it was in Hershel's cell area. The African American prisoner followed after her with Hershel. Hershel gave him a warning look that promised pain if he tried to hurt anyone. "I know first aid, just wanted to see if she needed help."  
>Hershel stared at him for a minute longer then nodded.<br>"You can trust him." Cat said. They both looked at her, Hershel more concerned where the prisoner was confused.  
>Hershel sat down beside Catori and began speaking to her, "Something bothering you?"<br>She explained the dream she had when they had first arrived. The one where she heard screaming but saw nothing but darkness. "I should have said something. Maybe we could've kept an eye on her better and she'd still be alive."  
>"There was nothing we could do. We didn't know when she would go into labor and we didn't know all of the walkers would attack like they did."<br>"If only I had seen that instead."  
>Oscar was quiet but listened to them talk and eventually asked, "You psychic or something."<br>She sighed and looked up at him, "I sometimes have visions in dreams of things that will happen. Most of the time it's small stuff. I hate it; wish I didn't see these things." The girl took an alcohol swab to clean the blood that had run down her leg. Most of it had dried. Hershel took care of the wound on her arm while she fiddled with the wound on her leg. After cleaning the blood out from around it and over it, it didn't seem that bad. The one on her arm was nothing to worry about but the one on her leg looked as if it needed stitches but she shrugged it off. It had already started healing by itself anyway.  
>"Damnit!" The bandage was taken on and off several times, "I can never wrap bandages around my legs without them being too tight!"<br>Hershel struggled a bit but the prisoner stepped forward, "May I?"  
>She sat back and nodded, handing him the bandage. Her fingers touched his for a second-<br>It was an unfamiliar place; Oscar was shot while some more familiar figures were gunning down these men.  
>"Rick! Rick!"<br>"Maggie!"  
>"Rick!"<br>"One of those terrorists is one of our own, Merle."  
>"This is one of the terrorists! Merles own brother."<br>"What should we do with them, huh?"  
>-then the vision was gone.<br>"Learned how to do this stuff when I was younger. You have to get it tight enough to hold and support but lose enough for the blood to circulate." He fixed the bandage and kept it together with some medical tape then stood up.  
>"T-thank you."<br>He nodded and turned to leave. She stood up and found it easier to walk this time now that her leg felt clean and all.  
>When Daryl and Maggie came back, he held up an opossum, "Found dinner along the way!"<br>"You goofball! Find enough baby stuff to last a while?"  
>"Almost. We'll need to go on another run in about a week or so, maybe." He took the baby from Carl and began feeding it, "Here ya go, ass kicker!"<br>He had a hard time growing up, he had told her of his father and of his mother when they were back on the farm. He had said; if he ever became a parent he would be there for his child, no matter what. Maybe if things turned out alright here at the jail, they could have a little one as well?  
>That would be perfect.<br>Rick walked into the room a while later and everyone was quiet for a moment until he spoke. Thankfully, he seemed to be in a better state of mind and actually went over and took his baby in his arms.  
>The group seemed so weird without T-Dog, Lori and Carol. Who else would they lose? Cat kept questioning who would be lost after the vision she had.<p> 


	10. Merle Meets Cat

"I'm sure everything is alright, Cat. Rick and Daryl are strong and they'll take care of the group." Carol put a comforting hand on Catori's shoulder.

The baby grabbed onto Cat's green braid and some of her brown hair with a little giggle. The one section of her brown hair that had been dyed green before she met the group was starting to grow out brown, the brown fading into the green creating a rather neat effect when braided. Little Ass Kicker, or Judith was her name now, loved tugging on it when she held her.

There was an anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach and it was making her sick, "He said for me to stay here, he said he wanted me to be safe. I just have a horrible feeling and…"

"And what?"

Cat shook her head, "Nothing, it's nothing. Just paranoid, I guess."

A scream sounded through the prison and Carl took off running past the cell they were in. Her worry for Daryl made her just not give a shit but Carol ran out to see what was wrong.

Her eyes looked down at Judith and she gave a nervous smile at the baby tugging on her braid, "What do you think? What do you think will happen with Rick and Daryl?"

The baby gurgled then spit a bit up at her.

"Yeah," She took one of the towels and cleaned the baby's chin with a soft smile, "I wonder if Father would've approved of the group I ended up with? I know he would've approved of Daryl." Another sigh, "I'm worried about Glen and Maggie, too. I just wish I knew what was going to happen…"

"_Open the damn door!" Daryl's voice was the loudest that echoed throughout the area in the CDC._

"_Open the door or I will blow your head off, you hear me?!" Shots were made when Shane had a moment of panic. Daryl walked back to Catori and put his arms around her_. _She was terrified but she didn't want to confirm it to everyone by saying it out loud. But Daryl could feel her trembling in his arms and this only ticked him off even more._

_The man grabbed the axe once more and hit the door with all his might. Eventually, the door was opened and Daryl grabbed Catori, voicing for everyone else to follow. The windows were unbreakable but Cat along with the others was running on pure panic, hitting the walls of what was now their prison with anything they could possibly find. _

_Thank God for Rick's grenade._

_Cat wasn't afraid of death, she was afraid of not having more time with Daryl. _

That fear, it was what she was feeling now.

She held little Judith tight and leaned back on the bed while she listened to the others talk to the new group downstairs. She really wanted to care as to if the new group was hostile or not but she just couldn't bring herself to do so.

"_What about Cat?!"_

"_She'll understand."_

Catori woke up with a quiet gasp and saw Beth standing there with the baby in her arms, "You okay?"

"Y-yeah, just…" She sighed, "I just… I don't know."

"The new group is rather nice; we're fixing something to eat down there if you want to join us."

With the others, Catori sat at a table alone. But Axel wasn't having that.

"Hey, sit with us! Talk some, you're always so quiet."

She responded with a shake of her head then heard one of the men in the new group, "She's a bit odd."

Surprisingly, Beth spoke up in a kind voice to the new group, "Don't say that. There are no odd people in this world anymore. Only the living and the dead."

"I meant no offense, ma'am. I'm sorry. I was just saying; she isn't a talkative person. But then again, after the world has gone to hell I guess nobody really has anything good to talk about."

The African American woman saw the baby in Beth's arms and immediately jumped up, "I never thought we'd see another baby again… She's beautiful."

"Thank you."

"How are you feeling?"

Beth's expression was suddenly pure sadness as she looked back to the woman, "She's not mine…"

"Where's the mother?"

That was when Cat stood up and walked out of the prison. Losing Lori had affected her more than she thought it would. Lori was always so motherly towards her, it was comforting.

About that time she saw the car driving through the gates. Excitement filled her when she ran down but all hope left her when she saw Rick gaze up at her with eyes that held so much emotion. She couldn't clearly read his features but his eyes held so much pain and anger.

"Where's Daryl?" She didn't even recognize her own voice, "Is…he dead?"

"No," A hand was laid on her shoulder, "He…. He ran into his brother Merle and they left together."

"They just… Left?"

He nodded, "I'm sorry. I tried to talk him out of it."

Her arms wrapped herself in a hug, "No, he's his brother. I understand…" Tears fell from her eyes and she was very surprised to feel Rick's arms wrap around her and pull her close. His hands rubbing up and down her back made it even worse, it was how her father used to comfort her when she was upset back before all of this happened. "I'm sorry, Rick…"

"No need to be. If you need to cry, go ahead." It was like his attention was elsewhere when he spoke.

"Come on, let's go inside."

Once inside after Rick had his mental breakdown, everyone went to their own cells. Cat went to her and Daryl's area and opened one of the bags she had put together from scavenging the houses they had been to throughout the winter season. She figured she'd change clothes after getting tired of the heat.

Luckily she had found a pair of jeans that almost too shredded to wear. She never dressed in style until now and that was after the dead walked the Earth when the heat got to her. Those faded blue jeans (if they could even be called that) along with a black belly shirt that had no sleeves was thrown on along with her boots and belt she always wore. For once she took the half ponytail down and let all of her hair flow around her shoulders, reaching her waist. Her green braid was kept in.

Looking down, her eyes caught Daryl's ear necklace. She picked it up and put it around her neck with a sad sigh.

"Whoa…"

Cat turned and saw Axel gawking at her.

"Uh… I mean… Sorry, you just…Look really good." He turned away with a blush and Cat smirked, wondering what Daryl would think. The black belly shirt (or tube top) reached a few inches above her belly button and the top covered all of her breast area. Still, she had never showed this much skin before with the exception of Daryl seeing her in their intiment moments.

Outside Catori walked up to Carol and Axel, and leaned up against the guard tower. She looked up at the sky and said a silent prayer for Daryl. The gunshot interrupting her thoughts made her throw herself down on the ground and army crawl for cover. She didn't waste time in grabbing her gun and searching for the people the gunshots came from.

All she could focus on was Carol taking cover behind Axel's dead body. Once a break came from the gunshots, she jumped up and ran with Carol to take cover with Maggie.

Everything calmed down and she sat down, gasping for air and still feeling the adrenaline flowing through her. "Cat! Look!" Beth cried.

She looked up and saw Daryl walking towards them with Rick and who she assumed was Merle.

"Daryl!" Without really thinking she stood up and ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck. His arms wrapped around her waist in return. They went for each other's lips at the same time.

"Daaamn, baby brother! You've got one hot-tamale waiting here for you here? Damn, I would've made your ass come back for this hot piece of ass!"

Cat looked over at Merle with wicked eyes, "I'm not going to kill you. But there is one thing you should know. Being Daryl's brother is not saving you from me kicking your ass. Just saying." She held her hand out to him, "But it's very nice to finally meet you!"

The next day, Michonne and Carl went with Rick back to their original home. Cat made sure to let everyone know that her and Daryl were to have alone time. Everyone took the warning to heart except for Merle.

Merle Dixon walked into the one cell where he came upon the scene of Catori straddling Daryl, neither wearing clothes.

"Well, I didn't-"

"GO AWAY!" The couple yelled in unison.

Carol, walking up the steps, saw Merle being pelted with various items from cans to bags, forcing him out of the cell. "Uh, Merle? You might want to come back down stairs."

The older Dixon brother ran up to Carol, holding one of the cans of food that was thrown at him, "Damnit, it ain't like I haven't seen two people goin' at it before. I have to admit, that girl does have a nice-"

"Stop talking." Carol pointed her finger out at him as if she were scorning a child while leading him back downstairs.

Daryl and Cat were lying in each other's arms, her face buried in his neck while she held him against her. He was shirtless but wore his baggy pants where she was wearing his shirt with her pair of white bikini styled panties. He seemed a bit hesitant for a moment before he finally spoke, "I talked to Hershel, Glenn had the same talk apparently. I interrupted it and Glenn seemed a bit shocked that I would even have the idea. But Hershel said he'd be proud to go through with it."

Catori's expression was one of confusion when they stood up.

"Catori, I love you." He reached into his pocket, "I've had this since my mother passed away, it only seems right to give it to you."

Daryl took Cat's left hand and placed a beautiful ring on her ring finger. He went to one knee.

"Marry me."

Catori's eyes filled with tears of joy, "Alright!"

Her arms flew around his neck and his around her waist, picking her up and spinning her around before placing her back on her feet.

The brown haired girl reached around her neck and unclasped the necklace her father had given to her when she was very young. The crescent moon pendant was made from a type of gem and was about as big as his pinky finger. She had told him back at the farm how important these two necklaces were to her. She never took them off.

"Seems fair, yes?"

"Yeah."

His lips pressed against hers in the most passionate of kisses.

* * *

><p><strong>It is a little rushed again and I had the idea of Cat and Daryl getting Hershel to marry them but after last night's episode I figured I'd go ahead and throw that in there. <strong>


	11. Short But Sweet

**Note**: know it's short, I'm sooo sorry x.x

* * *

><p>Cat didn't listen to the others after she ran off to find Daryl. She had no idea where she was going or where he went, her feet just seemed to move on their own.<p>

"Please! Please let the vision be wrong! Please, God!"

The vision was a few quick flashes but she could tell from the scene what was going to happen. The woman kept praying out loud, not even realizing she was doing so. When she saw Michonne she knew she was on the right path. Michonne nodded to her when she stopped running and just looked at her then she was back to running again.

"Merle, you ass! You better not be gone!" She couldn't say any other word other than 'gone' because of her false hope that she would make it in time.

Catori made it to the area where they had met the governor before and stopped when her eyes caught Daryl dropping to the ground, his cries echoing through the air and reaching her ears along with her heart.

'I was too late!' She thought and ran to her lover, "Daryl…"

Cat was almost expecting him to push her away but when she kneeled down on her knees and took him in her arms, he gripped onto her jacket and began clinging to her. Crying against her chest, she held him in a comforting manner like a mother would a child.

Merle's body in front of them and the sounds of Daryl's cries brought tears of her own to hers. His only family was gone, as was hers. She took the time now to mourn for her loss as well as his.

_"Hey, brunette. You take care of my baby brother, aight? If you don't I'll come back and haunt your pretty little ass. Keep him safe, okay?"_

Catori heard the voice and closed her eyes, nodding.

_"He did a good job pickin' out a woman. Kudos, baby brother."_ A soft but rather rough laugh was heard,_ "Hate to be mushy but I love the little snot."_ A cold chill passed over both of them and Daryl looked up at Cat and saw a sad smile on her face.

"What was the cold chill from?"

"Merle, he loves you and he's always with you."

"Heh," He smirked for a second and brushed the back of his hand against his nose, "J-just can't get rid of the son of a bitch, can I?"

"Nope." Cat kissed his forehead and nuzzled his hair, "Let's go back. We can give him a proper burial."

"Yeah… Okay."


	12. How long has it been?

"Daryl, must you lick your fingers before you do something with your hands?"

Daryl smiled at Catori with a rather mischievous grin, "Yeah, especially with you."

His now wife gave him a playful punch and nodded to Carol, who shook her head at the two.

"I'll meet you later when we go on our usual run for supplies."

Cat pressed a kiss to Daryl's lips and walked back inside. She was starting to get used to the bigger crowd of people but she still couldn't shake the feeling that something very bad was going to happen. Everything was going right for the most part; it was time for something to go wrong.

The woman closed her eyes and grabbed the stuff she needed then made her way to Daryl's loud ass motorcycle to wait for him.

"Ready, pretty lady?"

"Yes."

How were they even still alive with his loud mode of transportation? Other than the fact that Daryl was bad ass, if it had been anybody else they would have been killed shortly after the apocalypse had started.

"Daryl, I have a bad feeling about this…"

"This meaning what?" His hand moved to hers which was resting on his shoulder.

"This run or leaving them here alone, something. I don't know which but…"

"Try not to worry so much, babe."

Carol had become more badass and was sure to help some of the others in protecting the place. Maybe the children were able to fight back with Carol's 'story time' helping them out.

Of course she was the only other adult who knew about it.

The couple caught sight of a horse and they were relieved to see Michonne

"Look who is back! Glad you made it in one piece."

Catori drifted off and became lost in her thoughts again. The entire ride consisted of her clinging to Daryl and praying to anyone who would hear that the horrible feeling would go away. Then before she knew it…

"We're here Kitty."

'So far so good.' She thought, allowing Daryl to help her off the motorcycle.

"I'm mainly going to the meds if there are any left, maybe the alcohol section since that can clean wounds. The bandages and first aid areas might be cleared out already." Cat thought aloud, Sasha nodding in agreement.

The darker skinned woman adjusted her gun as they started towards the store, "It wouldn't hurt to check."

She couldn't help but continue her worrying as they waited outside the store, only breaking away from her thoughts when Daryl hit the window and turned to give her a quick wink.

Once inside, she ran quietly to her areas to gather as much as she could. To her surprise a lot of the first aid supplies had been left. Catori grabbed as much of it as she could then stopped when she had one bag full.

What if other survivors came through here and needed some of this stuff?

What if something happened to Daryl, Judith or any of the others?

The second question won the battle in her mind so she grabbed all that she could fit in the bags and her satchels. Eventually, she grabbed a basket that had been thrown to the side near her and put the remaining first aid and medicine in there.

Still there was room for more. Looking around she caught glimpse of some feminine products, which she grabbed.

"So you're on the rag? You weren't last night."

"Not for me at the moment, butt face." Cat picked at her now husband, "These can be used for medical purposes too."

"Really?" Daryl had a sarcastic grin on his face as he crossed his arms and shifted all of his weight on his foot, "Like what."

"Well, somewhere in the military a few shipments were mixed up and instead of the supplies the soldiers needed, they got boxes on tampons and stuff. One of the soldiers grabbed a few before they went out to fight. His friend got shot and all he had was the tampons. So, he used the tampon in the bullet wound to stop the bleeding and saved the guy's life."

"You're full of shit!" He laughed, "Really?"

"True story. It was on several news channels for a while." Cat smiled and threw him a small box, "You might want to keep a few on you just in case. Never know when you'll need them."

"Well, I'll keep one or two with me in that case." He took the box she had given to him and put it in his bag before making his way to another isle.

Cat scanned the area and grabbed a few packets of candy, some water, packets of rice and an old issue of OtakuUSA. She thought for a moment about the many people in the prison and grabbed some more anime books and metal music related magazines with some others that were full of music, recipes, hunting and boy bands. From the back she took copies of Play Boy and Play Girl. Teenage girls up to old women would be satisfied with the many choices of reading material, so would the guys. Then she thought of the children and grabbed some crayons and coloring books.

After looking to see her basket and backpack were arranged so she could get more stuff in them, she made her way to the front. On the checkout isles she found several packs of batteries that she had plenty of room for in the basket she carried on her arm. Not to mention the boxes of condoms next to them. She figured maybe they had dry rotted by now but just in case…

She laughed to herself with a goofy smile, 'Could always use plastic wrap like in that horrible porno I watched once.'

A box of plastic wrap was grabbed but was used to go around the basket to make sure the items didn't spill out. Of course there was plenty left so she shoved it in one of the bags. It was able to be used in medical emergencies as well.

A loud crash caught her attention and that feeling of dread poured through her once again, 'Oh no!'

The woman turned and saw Daryl and Tyrese running in the direction of the sound, giving her a hand motion to stay where she was.

They seemed to have it under control until she saw something fall through the ceiling.

"What the hell was that?! Daryl!" She half whispered, half yelled trying to be quiet yet hearable at the same time.

Something fell through the ceiling closer to her, that's when she realized-

"It's raining walkers! Daryl!" She ran to his location only for him to yell for her to get out.

Of course she wasn't leaving without him.

Another walker fell through the roof and she jumped out of the way just in time but not without getting blood splattered on her boots. Two stumbled up behind her and she offed them as quickly as possible.

When Cat looked up, she saw that not only walkers were falling through the ceiling…

"Daryl! Ya'll hurry up! We all need to leave NOW!"

With all of the walkers falling through the ceiling she was forced away from Daryl and back towards the front where she saw Michonne who ran up to her, "We have to go! Where is everyone?!"

"Th-there!" She pointed.

"Shit!"

With the two bags on her back, Catori set down the basket and ran to help Daryl and others with the shelf then ran back. She tried to stop and go back for the kid she knew as 'Beth's boyfriend' but Daryl gripped her wrist, "To late, he's gone!"

Without slowing down, Cat grabbed the basket she had sat down and nearly fell out on the ground when they made it out to a safe distance from the store.

"Oh my God, Daryl!" Catori's hands were all over her lover, making sure he wasn't hurt then looked over everybody else in the group that had made it out.

The hunter let out a shaky breath before he could speak, "Let's get the hell out of here."

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong> I always rush though my fanfics, I'm horrible x.x I don't own the Walking Dead and I was struggling to remember the first episode of the fourth season.

Don't like? Don't read. Simple.

Is it just me or is Daryl/Norman even hotter this season? That man gets hotter each time I see him!


	13. Surprises

Catori saw Bob next to Tyrese while he dug Karen's grave. Cautiously and quietly she approached them both. When she looked at Bob he just shook his head, silently telling her the man was still upset.

Tyrese stopped digging and looked up at her with his good eye, "What do you want?" He asked in a neutral tone, not an angry sounding one like she had expected.

"I just came to see if you were okay and to pay my respects. Karen was always nothing but kind to me."

"I don't understand who would do something like that to her... She got along with everybody." Tyrese moved the shovel around after he spoke, a lost expression on his face, "Did you see anything with Karen in any vision dreams you tend to have?"

"No, I would've tried warning someone if I did. I'm sorry." Catori pulled at her long braid that was still somewhat dyed green from before the world went to hell. Her hair had gotten longer but she refused to cut it, "Everything will be okay. Rick is good at figuring things out so he'll find whoever..." Her voice trailed off and a hand reached up to her chest.

"Cat?! What's wrong?" Bob jumped forward, as did Tyrese when she started to drift to the ground. Tyrese pulled her hair back so they could see her face, "What is it?"

"I don't know..." Bob rubbed a comforting hand on her back, "What does it feel like?"

"I don't... I feel sick..." Bob felt of her head, "You don't seem to have a fever. Have you been coughing?"

"No, I haven't." Tyrese sat down on the ground next to her, "Just throwin' this out there, might sound weird coming from me... But have you had your... Uh... Female monthly thing lately?"

Cat's eyes widened, "Oh... Shit!"

Rick spoke from behind them, startling all three of them, "Is somethin' wrong?"

Tyrese stood up with the shovel and walked back to the grave he was working on, not breaking eye contact with Rick. "I'm sorry for what happened, what I did."

"Its on both of us." The ex cop turned and looked to the other two on the ground, "What's wrong?"

...

Daryl smiled at the pictures Glenn had taken of him and Catori. He had four pictures, his favorite being the one of the two of them kissing passionately. His second favorite was the two of them gazing at each other. The third and fourth pic were actually taken by Cat, facebook style. She had held the camera up and taken a few with them smiling.

He was allowed to freely look through her personal journal she wrote in and kept the pictures in there so they would be safe. So many people were getting sick and he was trying to keep her away from the sick area so they wouldn't have to be separated.

It was late, he noticed, almost one o'clock. Cat hadn't come to their cell for bed yet. He was about to get up when she came into the cell, dragging as if she were tired.

"Kitty?" Daryl walked over to his wife and put his hand under her chin so he could make eye contact. Her eyes were red and puffy, it was obvious she had been crying, "What's wrong?"

Her lips moved but nothing came out but a strained gasp at first. She tried again, "Daryl..."

"You can tell me anything, Cat. You know that right? What's got you upset?" He asked again, his voice still soft and gentle.

"Y-you're going to be a daddy."

"What?"

"I'm pregnant..."

So he had heard her right. He couldn't help but question why is wasn't angry or even pissed.

Upset, yes.

Having another baby in a world of walkers, one was hard enough to keep quiet and safe. But Daryl could not bring himself to be angry over this situation. It was both of them that were at fault, after all. So he was going to accept this challenge And he would be lying if he said he didn't want the kid.

"We're gonna have a little ass kicker of our own?" He asked, receiving a nod. Cat stood there waiting for his reaction only to be shocked when he dropped to his knees in front of her, putting his hands over the brown corset she loved to wear. He noticed it wasn't tied quite as tight as usual. She wasn't showing yet but he still pulled her pants down slightly and pushed the corset up a ways then pressed his lips against her lower belly in a cute kiss. "I guess this means we need more baby stuff." He smiled up at her to see her smiling that beautiful smile of hers back down at him.

"Two babies around is going to be a bit hard to keep quiet..."

"Yeah... But you have me here, too." He stood up and took her hands in his, "We're going to an animal hospital or something like that. Will you be OK here?"

"You know I will be."


	14. Reunited

Note: Sorry, it has been a while. Going through some dramatic stuff and things and I just haven't been feeling up to updating... Just been in a mood where its like 'fuck everything, I dont care anymore' until I got all of my frustrations out in kickboxing. Anyway, I sort of rushed it again but a friend that read it said she liked it so it's being posted like it is.

Autocorrect changes my words to shit so if you see something funny, tell me. I'm having to write my stuff on a tablet that hates me.

* * *

><p>Rick was not upset about hearing of Catori's condition. She had been terrified that he would snap like he did when Lori had passed.<p>

"We are in the safest place we could possibly be in."

Daryl pulled Cat into his arm, her back against his chest. She smiled up at him, "So... What should we name him?"

"Him?" Daryl laughed, "You're sure it's going to be a boy?"

"Positive. I was thinking 'Hunter' or naming him after Merle."

"Hunter Merle Dixon..." He said with a grin, "I like it!"

Rick was standing next to them, listening and he actually felt happy and excited for them.

Cat had been upset, thinking she couldn't even have kids. The woman thought silently to herself while braiding her hair over her shoulder, the braid reaching her waist when she was done. She was terrified when she realized her condition.

Silently, she put on a water camo spaghetti strap shirt on with a pair of black leggings. The new black combat boots she had found on a run recently fit perfectly so she took them considering her brown boots had started to fall apart.

Something was put over her shoulders and she turned to see Daryl.

"Here, I found this. Its sort of chilly out so you might need it."

It was a tight fitting black jacket, half of it made to look like leather. Small studs decorated the lining of the hood and the material over the zipper along with the bottom. The upper arms had straps that she could use to put a knife in.

Considering it was the end of the world and the fact that she was now pregnant she thought she looked pretty good in her new clothes. Her hands touched her belly, though she wasn't showing and she wouldn't be for a while, she had so many mixed feelings about being pregnant.

But she pushed the worry away, they were in a safe place. They were safe enough to have a family here.

...

Daryl stood in front of Catori after the governor arrived in a tank. She had grabbed her backpack and satchels after realizing the emergency. She was always capable of fighting and running with everything but took off the backpack and knelled beside Daryl with her gun, aiming at the governor.

"Daryl, this is not going to end well."

"Yeah, I know. Stay out of harm's way and stay near me so I can protect you. If we get separated, I swear to God I will find you."

The governor sliced into Hershel and all hell broke lose.

"Cat, go with the others! Go, now and do not stop until you are safe! I am not losing you!" The hunter grabbed Cat by the back of her neck while they were still in cover and kissed her hard, "I will find you. I promise!"

"I love you!"

"Love you more, Kitty..."

He gave her a gentle push and she ran, shooting anything that got in her way. It was a miracle she wasn't shot but she made sure to take out at least two of the governor's men before she his. Everything was quiet when she walked out of the woods and saw the prison was covered in walkers.

"Daryl, you're okay. You'll find me. You promised." She whispered and started walking.

A sigh was taken in and slowly let out in an attempt to calm her nerves. The woman was torn between staying in the prison area and leaving to find Daryl on her own. Night was falling so she had to decide quick.

...

"Damn, girl!" A familiar voice called from behind her, "I told you to take care of my baby brother, not lose him."

Cat turned around to see Daryl's brother, "Merle?"

He had both hands and his clothes looked somewhat clean as if he had just washed them. Lighting a cigarette, he looked back up at her with a dopey grin on his face. "Don't worry, Kitten. He's safe. Just follow the tracks and he will find you. Everyone is following the tracks."

"Why follow the tracks?" She asked but he turned his back to her and walked away. About that time she had the sudden sensation of falling.

...

Cat shot up from her small camping area against a tree, a gasp escaping her lips. She was sure she had actually communicated with Merle. He would be the type to actually look after his brother even in the after life.

So she decided to follow the tracks until she somehow met up with her husband.

The smell of smoke found her nose making it itch a bit.

'Wonder what happened?' She silently asked herself but just shrugged it off, until a couple of smoking walkers stumbled up behind her. Two different swings from her knife seemed to do the trick so she continued on her way.

For the longest time it was quiet. There was no walkers, no gunshots, no rustling in the woods. It was rather unnerving, it made her want to cry though she wasn't sure why.

The woman kept walking, even when night fell. She didn't feel any hint of sleep in her eyes so just kept moving but slowly to keep an eye out.

It was the next day when she started feeling safe enough to sleep. She made her way to the trees and flopped on the ground, ready to cry.

"Cat?"

Her head jerked up, recognizing the voice.

"Carl?"

Catori hadn't realized how tired she was until she tried to stand up.

"Dad! Its Cat!"

Rick ran to Carl to see he had in fact found Catori. He pulled her into a tight hug when he reached her. Cat couldn't help but burst into tears once she was wrapped up in his embrace.

"I thought all of you had been killed, you're alive... Y-you're..." She couldn't finish her sentence because she started sobbing again against his chest.

"I'm glad you're okay. You're staying with us now."

Rick gently pulled Cat back towards the tracks where Michonne stood with Carl who had ran back to her to tell her of his discovery.

"You haven't found anyone else?" She asked the three, receiving shakes of their heads, "Oh..."

"I know Daryl is alive, we will find him. I know we will. So don't you worry yourself to death."

Cat nodded and continued with the three. All she could think about was Daryl, surely if Rick made it Daryl had.

She wanted Daryl to hold her in his arms again, to kiss her, she missed his voice talking to her while they were laying down half asleep wrapped in each others embrace.

'I will see him again!'

"So this Terminus place... I saw some signs for it, are we headed there?"

Rick nodded, "I figured we would try it out, see what happens."

They made plans to raid the next place they saw but the only thing they saw were trees.

"There's probably a store coming up soon, gotta be some food somewhere."

"Hopefully..."

The first thing they saw that could provide shelter was a broken down vehicle. They could set up a camp here!

They were tired and weak and became slightly disappointed when they found nothing edible in the broken down blazer. The entire time they made a fire Catori had a bad feeling in her chest.

"I have a bad feeling, Michonne. It almost feels like a panic attack." She said, smiling when Michonne put a hand on her shoulder.

"Everything will be alright. I had a bad feeling earlier, it was like an anxious feeling though." The sun was setting below the trees and Michonne sighed, "Maybe you just need rest, you're pregnant and tired. The car isn't smelly or anything, you can lay down in the back seat. Carl called took the front."

"The back can be just as comfortable. Thank you for listening to me."

"You just go rest."

Rick had just made it back from collecting wood for the fire when he reached down and helped Cat up. Once she climbed inside the vehicle she stretched out as best she could in the backseat and closed her eyes.

"Weeell, looky what we have back here?"

'That's not Rick-" She thought before she was jerked out of the car. Still drowsy with no idea as to what was going on, her eyes were everywhere trying to figure out what the hell was happening.

"Well, ain't she a pretty one." The man said, holding his gun up to Rick's head, "I'll claim her if none of ya'll want her. I promise I'll share."

"Catori?!" She knew this voice...

"Daryl!"

The two lovers locked eyes for a moment before the assumed leader of the group spoke again, "Oh, I know that look! They're in love... Take her, boys, since Daryl wants to be a traitor."

"No!" She was thrown to one of the men and the other two jumped on Daryl when he tried to stop them. She heard Carl when she was forced to her knees. A gun was held up to her head and she could do nothing but watch as her husband was beaten by the other men.

She began praying in her head, begging for this to end right now. Carl didn't deserve this, neither did Rick and Michonne. Cat sure as hell did not want anyone that wasn't Daryl touching her.

A gurgling scream caught her attention and she turned to see Rick had ripped into the man's neck with his teeth. Everyone seemed to take advantage while the men were distracted. Cat jumped Up and headbutted the man before turning and grabbing his gun and shooting him. Though she was aiming at his head, he grabbed her wrist and she shot through his throat. Another shot to the actual head made him drop to the ground.

The next thing she knew she was wrapped up in Daryl's arms, "Kitty, you're okay..."

"D-Daryl..." She was terrified that this was some kind of nightmarish dream, "Daryl, you're here..."

Her arms wrapped around him and she began sobbing, she was quite loud at first she clamped a hand over her mouth to quiet herself.

"Please be real, please be real." She muttered.

"This is real, Kitty. I promise. Now... We need rest, we going to Terminus tomorrow."


End file.
